Minister Champagne announces the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy
In Ottawa, François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announces the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, setting out how the $2 billion from Budget 2024 will be spent on domestic AI computing capacity: up to $700 million to co-invest in commercial AI data centres through an AI Compute Challenge, up to $1 billion for public computing infrastructure including a new publicly owned AI supercomputer, and up to $300 million to subsidize compute access for small and medium-sized enterprises. Cohere is named the first recipient, offered up to $240 million toward a $725-million Canadian data centre.
The Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy is Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada's plan for spending the $2 billion over five years that Budget 2024 allocated to domestic AI computing capacity. It was announced in Ottawa on 5 December 2024 by François-Philippe Champagne, then Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, following a public consultation that ran from 26 June to 6 September 2024 and drew input from more than 1,000 stakeholders across research, industry, and civil society.
Organizations
- ISED — organizer