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Latest / Chips, compute and energy

ProgrammeComputeGovernmentCanadaConfirmed

Canada sets out a C$2bn Sovereign AI Compute Strategy; Cohere gets up to C$240m

See how this story connects

Source: Innovation, Science and Economic Development CanadaAlso reported by Department of Finance Canada

Minister François-Philippe Champagne set out the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy on 5 December 2024, spending the C$2bn promised in Budget 2024: up to C$700m for new or expanded data centres, up to C$1bn for public supercomputing and a secure facility, and up to C$300m for an AI Compute Access Fund. On 6 December Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced up to C$240m for Toronto’s Cohere toward a multi-billion dollar AI data centre in Canada, the strategy’s first investment.

Why it matters

Canadian AI firms and researchers got a funded plan for domestic compute, and Cohere became the first company to receive money from it.

When
5 Dec 2024
ID
WTA-N-2024-0192
Where
Canada
Who
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Department of Finance Canada, Cohere; François-Philippe Champagne, Chrystia Freeland

Summary by wheresthe.ai, from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and the reporting credited above. Checked against the source on 9 Oct 2026.

Read the original at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Source copy: download the page text as saved on 19 Oct 2026 (PDF). Also held by the Internet Archive.

Next stop on this Storyline: Led toCanada publishes national AI strategy ‘AI for All’ with six pillars

Data to measure this

Compare the years before 2024 with the years since in these series.

  • Epoch AI: frontier AI data centresEpoch AISite-level timelines of IT power, compute (H100-equivalents) and capital cost for large AI data centres.live · download · CSV
  • IEA Energy and AI dataInternational Energy AgencyWorld and regional data-centre capacity, power usage effectiveness, load factor and electricity use.download · XLSX
  • Epoch AI: GPU clusters (archived)Epoch AIMore than 500 GPU clusters and AI supercomputers with country, owner, performance, power and cost.Years: 2019-2025 · one-off · download · CSV · Covers before and after
  • OECD.AI: venture capital investments in AI start-upsOECD.AI (data from Preqin)Venture capital invested in AI start-ups by country and industry, with series for generative AI and AI compute start-ups.live · query tool
  • Crunchbase company and funding dataCrunchbase · paidPrivate company profiles, funding rounds and acquisitions.live · api · API
  • Dealroom AI sector dataDealroom.co · paidAI start-ups, unicorns and venture funding by country, city, stage and sub-sector.live · query tool

All data for Canada

Cite this story

WTA-N-2024-0192: “Canada sets out a C$2bn Sovereign AI Compute Strategy; Cohere gets up to C$240m.” wheresthe.ai, 5 Dec 2024. https://wheresthe.ai/d/ca-sovereign-ai-compute-strategy-2024-12/ (source: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada).

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