To strengthen Canada's position as a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI), it is essential for Canadian AI industries and researchers to have access to affordable, cutting‑edge compute infrastructure. By boosting access to powerful computing resources right here in Canada, we can drive innovation, create new opportunities and ensure that Canada stays competitive in the global AI race.
What is AI compute?
AI compute refers to the computational resources required for AI systems to perform tasks, such as processing data, running algorithms and training machine learning models.
In other words, AI compute is the technology that powers AI. More compute power means faster and more accurate results. And that means more innovation, more productivity and more opportunity for Canadian AI companies, researchers and talent. That is why the Government of Canada is committed to building a strong and secure AI compute foundation.
Budget 2024 announced $2 billion over five years, starting in 2024–25, to launch new initiatives that will give Canadian researchers and AI companies the tools they need to be competitive globally. Over the summer of 2024, the government launched a public consultation to inform the design and implementation of these two initiatives. We heard from more than 1,000 stakeholders from research, industry and civil society across Canada through in‑person and virtual round table discussions and an online survey.
Read the What We Heard Report
Introducing the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy
Guided by the voices of Canadians, the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy will make strategic investments in public and commercial infrastructure to ensure that Canadian innovators, businesses and researchers have access to the compute capacity they need.
The three elements of the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy will work together to increase domestic compute capacity, support the Canadian AI ecosystem and drive economic growth. And it will help safeguard Canadian data and intellectual property while ensuring that businesses, innovators and researchers can pursue groundbreaking research and deliver made-in-Canada AI solutions.
Mobilizing private sector investment
The government is investing up to $700 million to support the Canadian AI ecosystem through increased domestic AI compute capacity that leverages Canada's natural competitive advantages in energy, land and climate.
This will be accomplished through the AI Compute Challenge. The challenge will focus on projects from companies, consortiums and academic-industry partnerships to establish fully integrated AI data-centre solutions ready for commercial deployment. The AI Compute Challenge will seek out project proposals that meet the following objectives:
- Build out or expand the capacity of commercial AI-specific data centres in Canada
- Provide flexible and affordable compute offerings
- Contribute to anchoring or growing Canadian AI champions
- Advance innovative and sustainable compute solutions
Learn more about the AI Compute Challenge
Building public supercomputing infrastructure
The second element of the strategy includes a transformational investment of up to $1 billion to build public supercomputing infrastructure that will meet the needs of researchers, government and industry. Sovereign public AI infrastructure is essential for ensuring Canada's competitiveness and sovereignty in the global AI space.
This investment includes the following:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program
- Canada is investing in a new AI supercomputing system through the AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure (SCIP) Program. This state-of-the-art, Canadian-owned and located supercomputing system will support researchers and a cross-section of industry and will exponentially increase the compute power currently available in Canada.
- Applications are now open. To learn more about the objectives of the program and how to submit your application, visit the AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program (SCIP).
- A smaller secure computing facility, to be led by Shared Services Canada (SSC) and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), will also be established for government and industry to perform research and development, including for national security purposes.
- In the near term, up to $200 million will be provided to augment existing public compute infrastructure to address immediate needs. During consultations, stakeholders recognized that building out domestic compute infrastructure takes time and emphasized the importance of acting now to address the compute capacity issue. This near-term capacity could be delivered by expanding existing public infrastructure such as the resources managed by the NRC, the AI Institutes and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.
AI Compute Access Fund
The Access Fund will support the purchase of AI compute resources by Canadian innovators and businesses. Through an investment of up to $300 million, this plan aims to tackle a significant challenge highlighted during consultations: the high cost of compute resources and the limited availability of domestic capacity. The Access Fund aims to address barriers to AI development in sectors that require high-performance computing capacity and have high potential for AI adoption, such as life sciences, energy and advanced manufacturing. The program will work closely with AI ecosystem organizations.
To learn more about the fund and to find out if your business is eligible, visit the AI Compute Access Fund.