Minister Solomon announces first 44 recipients of the AI Compute Access Fund
In Vancouver, Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, announces support for 44 projects through the AI Compute Access Fund — representing $66 million of the $300-million fund — to help Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises offset the cost of the high-performance computing they need to train models and build AI products. Launched under Canada's Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, the fund targets companies across life sciences, health care, energy, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, finance, natural resources, and transportation, with further funding offers to follow as assessments are finalized.
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