Deputy Prime Minister announces $240 million for Cohere to scale-up AI compute capacity

From: Department of Finance Canada

News release

December 6, 2024 - Toronto, Ontario - Department of Finance Canada

Compute is the technology that powers artificial intelligence (AI). It’s the chips and the data centres, the backbone of this transformative new technology. Canada is home to some of the world’s best and brightest AI researchers, and Canada is already championing the use of AI. More access to cutting-edge compute infrastructure is crucial to securing Canada’s AI advantage and empowering Canadian innovators to thrive.

Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, announced an investment of up to $240 million in Cohere, a Toronto-based AI leader—the first investment through the new $2 billion Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy launched yesterday.

Today’s investment will enable Cohere to secure enough private capital to incentivize its strategic partners to build a new cutting-edge, multi-billion dollar AI data centre in Canada. The new AI data centre will come online in 2025 and enable Cohere, and other firms across Canada’s thriving AI ecosystem, to access the domestic compute capacity they need to build the next generation of AI solutions here at home.

In the competitive global race to discover the next AI breakthroughs, Canada is staying ahead of the pack, with a plan that is already crowding in billions of private investment into Canadian AI.

We are ensuring that Canadian AI innovators and researchers have the tools they need to develop Made-in-Canada AI solutions and compete at the global forefront.

Quotes

“We are delivering on our commitment to secure Canada’s AI advantage with monumental investments in Canadian AI leaders and Canadian AI compute. Today, we are ensuring Canadian AI innovators have the right incentives to scale-up here at home. Our $240 million investment in Cohere is crowding in a multi-billion dollar private investment to build compute capacity, which will create more good Canadian jobs paying higher wages.”

- The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

“Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the world, and Canada is at the forefront with one of the most advanced ecosystems globally. Canadian champions drawing in billions of dollars in investment to build infrastructure is a homerun when it comes to putting policy in action. Today’s announcement with Cohere shows that our AI Compute Strategy is already driving innovation and mobilizing the private sector.”

- The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

“The government’s investment in AI innovation is helping companies use this emerging technology to drive productivity. Cohere will use this support to continue building cutting-edge AI solutions that deliver significant efficiency gains for customers. We are proud of our Canadian heritage and look forward to growing our workforce in the country, while further building our global business.”

- Aidan Gomez, Founder and CEO, Cohere 

Quick facts

  • Founded in 2019, Cohere is a leading Canadian AI enterprise platform, specializing in generative AI and large language models.

  • Budget 2024 announced a monumental, $2.4 billion increase in targeted AI support, including $2 billion over five years for a new Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy to give Canadian researchers and AI companies the tools they need to compete at the global forefront in AI. 

  • Yesterday, December 5, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry released the new Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, which invests in domestic compute capacity, the Canadian AI ecosystem, and economic growth through three elements:

    • Mobilizing Private Sector Investment with up to $700 million for Canadian AI champions to leverage investment in new or expanded data centres. Today’s investment in Cohere is sourced from this element.
    • Building Public Supercomputing Infrastructure with up to $1 billion to build transformational public computing infrastructure in Canada.
    • An AI Compute Access Fund of up to $300 million to deliver the affordable, domestic compute power Canadian innovators and businesses need.

  • Canada’s AI sector is a key job creator and driver of productivity, innovation, and economic growth:

    • In 2022-23, there were over 140,000 AI professionals in Canada—an increase of 29 per cent compared to the previous year.
    • Canada is home to 10 per cent of the world’s top-tier AI researchers—the second-most in the world.
    • Canada ranks first globally for year-over-year growth of women in AI (67 per cent growth in 2022-23 alone).
    • Canada ranks first in the G7 for year-over-year growth of AI talent, and since 2019, first in the G7 for the number of AI-related papers published per capita.
    • The number of AI patents filed by Canadian inventors increased by 57 per cent in 2022-23 compared to the previous year—nearly three times the G7 average of just 23 per cent over the same period.
    • In 2022, the Canadian AI sector attracted over $8.6 billion in venture capital, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of all venture capital activity in Canada.
    • Canada ranks third in the G7 in total funding per capita raised for AI companies, with more than 670 Canadian AI start-ups and 30 Canadian generative AI companies receiving at least one investment deal valued at more than US$1 million since 2019.

Associated links

Contacts

Media may contact:

Katherine Cuplinskas
Deputy Director of Communications
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Katherine.Cuplinskas@fin.gc.ca

Media Relations
Department of Finance Canada
mediare@fin.gc.ca
613-369-4000

General enquiries:

Phone: 1-833-712-2292
TTY: 613-369-3230
E-mail: financepublic-financepublique@fin.gc.ca

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