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The federal government is providing $66 million to an array of Canadian artificial intelligence projects to help them access compute power to commercialize and scale up their work, AI Minister Evan Solomon announced Tuesday.
The money, which will be distributed to 44 projects, is coming from the federal government’s AI Compute Access Fund, which currently has a total budget of $300 million.
Solomon announced the first batch of winners at Web Summit Vancouver and said there is a “positive signal that there is a deep appetite for compute and innovation in our economy.” He added that there were many more applications for the fund than anticipated.
According to a news release, the 44 projects “are working across key sectors of the Canadian economy, including life sciences, health care, energy, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, finance, natural resources and transportation.”
Eight of the projects are based in B.C. and are receiving a combined total of $16.8 million, the release added.
Telus will build a new AI data centre in B.C., under the federal Enabling Large-Scale Sovereign AI Data Centres initiative, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon announced on Monday. The project ‘reflects the kind of ambitious infrastructure that we need as a country,’ Solomon said.
One of the winners is Variational AI, a Vancouver-based company co-founded by Handol Kim that uses AI for drug discovery, specifically synthesizing small molecules that it can license to biotechs and pharmaceutical companies.
Kim told CBC the funding is “a big help” and will allow Variational AI’s machine learning scientists to “get access to compute they desperately need.”
“So that in turn accelerates the improvement of our models, which then in turn makes better drugs, and we can help patients and meet unmet medical needs,” Handol said.
According to the federal government, the AI Compute Access Fund helps support successful projects with compute costs ranging from $100,000 up to $5 million.
The program covers two-thirds of eligible costs for Canadian cloud-based AI compute services, or half of eligible costs for non-Canadian cloud-based AI compute services.
Winners are judged against several criteria including market potential and financial capacity. Other considerations include whether the projects present sufficient economic, innovation and public benefits to Canada, and whether they align with departmental or federal priorities.
Carney: AI strategy ‘about to come out’
More of the federal government’s vision and plans for AI will be revealed in its forthcoming national strategy, which Prime Minister Mark Carney said over the weekend is “about to come out,” but did not share a specific date.
The strategy has been delayed a few times, which Carney acknowledged in his remarks at the 2026 Global Action Progress Summit in Toronto.
“One of the advantages of being late is we’re taking lessons from others,” Carney said.
The federal government’s recent spring economic update shared the six pillars that will underpin the national strategy:
- Protecting Canadians and safeguarding our democracy.
- Empowering Canadians
- Powering AI adoption for shared prosperity.
- Building the Canadian sovereign AI foundation.
- Scaling Canadian champions.
- Building trusted partnerships and global alliances.
The descriptions of the pillars also mention “giving access to AI training and education for all Canadians,” and “modern privacy and online safety laws, strong national AI safety capabilities, and secure government systems.”
The economic update also said Canada will “work with a variety of trusted partners to align standards, co-invest in innovation, and help Canadian companies access global markets—while shaping an AI ecosystem anchored in democratic values.”
The federal government has made other strides in AI development, including announcing on Monday it is “advancing work” with Telus on a proposal to expand a data centre in Kamloops, B.C., and developing two new facilities in downtown Vancouver and the city’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.
A spokesperson for Solomon’s office told CBC News there are no federal dollars involved in those projects at this point, but off-take agreements or contracts could potentially be part of the structure, depending on developments.
