By Alice Chambers |
Microsoft will spend $7.5 billion CAD ($5.5 billion USD) on its data centres, sovereignty and AI skilling across Canada.
The investment builds on Microsoft’s already established work in the country and will total $19 billion CAD ($13.8 billion USD) to be spent between 2023 and 2027.
“This isn’t just about building AI infrastructure, it’s about strengthening Canada’s digital sovereignty and equipping Canadians with the skills to thrive in the AI era,” said Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft.
Microsoft will expand its Azure Canada Centra and Canada East data centre regions to support the 426,000 jobs it supports across the country, with 5,300 people across 11 cities working for itself and more than 17,000 companies that are Microsoft partners.
“[Microsoft] boosts AI solutions and helps many firms move faster, compete more effectively and bring new ideas to market,” said Evan Solomon, Canada’s Minister of AI and Digital Innovation.
The initiative also includes a five-part plan to improve Canada’s cybersecurity, improve data sovereignty, strengthen privacy protection with enhanced computing capabilities, support leading local AI developers by making Cohere’s AI models available on Microsoft Foundry and Microsoft Azure, and ensure continuity of cloud and AI services.
“To strengthen our protection of Canada’s cybersecurity, we are launching today in Ottawa a dedicated Threat Intelligence Hub,” said Smith. “This Hub will house Microsoft subject matter experts in threat intelligence, threat protection research, and applied AI security research. They will have access to Microsoft threat intelligence data and assets from around the world, so they can work closely with the Government of Canada and law enforcement partners to track and interdict nation state actors and organised crime.”
Plus, Microsoft has partnered with Actua, youth education group, to support AI skills development in Indigenous communities by technology with cultural heritage. Microsoft Elevate has already engaged 5.7 million people across Canada through free skilling programmes, with more tan 546,000 completing an AI training course. By 2026, it plans to help 250,000 Canadians earn in-demand AI credentials.