Solomon announces CAD $66 million to 44 AI projects
Wed, 13th May 2026 (Today)
Canada has allocated CAD $66 million to 44 projects through its AI Compute Access Fund, part of a wider CAD $300 million program.
Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, announced the funding at Vancouver's Web Summit as the federal government increases support for smaller businesses seeking computing resources for artificial intelligence development.
The selected projects span life sciences, health care, energy, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, finance, natural resources and transportation. The minister said funding is intended to help small and medium-sized enterprises cover the computing costs of training models, developing products and expanding AI services.
Access to computing infrastructure has become a central issue for companies working with AI, especially smaller firms that cannot easily absorb the cost of cloud services and large-scale processing. The fund is intended to address that barrier and support domestic development of AI tools and services.
"AI is not just a technology of the future. It is already helping Canadian companies solve real problems, improve services, create products and compete globally. But to build with AI, companies need access to compute power," said Solomon.
Backed projects include companies working on earlier wildfire detection, public transport systems, drug discovery, factory processes, agricultural output, financial services and workplace software. The announcement highlights the federal government's effort to extend AI support beyond research into commercial use across more of the economy.
Eligible businesses must be for-profit with less than 500 employees, work within an AI-related field and have Canada-based research and development teams. Recipients must also be revenue-generating or demonstrate investor interest through at least Series A financing.
According to the program guide, multinational companies with Canadian registered entities that could confirm tat the infrastructure and data used would stays in Canada would be considered domestic applications.
Of the CAD $66 million announced so far, CAD $16.8 million has gone to eight projects in British Columbia. More funding decisions are expected as assessments of other applications continue. Applications closed in July of last year.
The AI Compute Access Fund is part of Canada's Sovereign AI Compute Strategy. Successful applicants can receive between CAD $100,000 and CAD $5 million in support for compute costs.
Under the program terms, the fund can cover up to two-thirds of eligible costs for Canadian cloud-based AI compute services and up to half for non-Canadian cloud-based services. This structure creates a stronger incentive to use domestic providers where possible.
The latest application round has closed after drawing strong interest from businesses across the country. Applications were reviewed through a competitive process that considered technical feasibility, commercial prospects, risk and the likely benefit to Canada and Canadians.
The policy aim goes beyond supporting individual projects. Ottawa is seeking to retain more AI-related jobs, intellectual property and commercial activity in Canada as demand for computing resources rises and competition intensifies among countries building domestic AI industries.