The University of Toronto’s cutting-edge artificial intelligence infrastructure will receive $42.5 million in federal funding to support Canadian researchers advancing fields such as medicine, basic sciences, engineering and the humanities.
The investment, announced Friday at U of T by Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister Responsible for the Federal Economic Development Authority of Southern Ontario, will be funded through the Canadian Sovereign AI Computing Strategy and delivered through Canada’s Digital Research Alliance’s National AI Computing – Rapid Deployment Initiative. This initiative aims to address the growing demand for high-performance AI computing across the United States.
This expanded computing infrastructure builds on last year’s $52 million upgrade to U of T’s SciNet supercomputer.
“At a time of disruptive change across the globe, Canada faces many important challenges and opportunities. The need to ensure global leadership in artificial intelligence as a driver of research and innovation is among the most important,” U of T President Melanie Woodin said at an event held at the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus. “To meet this moment, we need to think big. We need to work together and invest strategically to build a future of hope and prosperity for all Canadians.”
“This is why today we are working with colleagues in academia, industry and government to ensure that our country is ready to protect our interests and project our values in a world increasingly driven by the power of AI.
“That’s why we’re so excited to further strengthen our partnership with Minister Solomon and his Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and the Canadian Digital Research Alliance.”
Solomon said the investment reflects Canada’s commitment to expanding high-performance computing capacity and helping researchers accelerate progress.
“This investment will support training large AI models at scales of hundreds of billions of parameters and provide a secure, multi-tenant platform for data-intensive research,” he said.
Solomon noted that Canadian researchers are often forced to rely on foreign computational resources, adding that increasing investment in “Canadian discoveries using Canadian infrastructure” is important with a view to ensuring national data sovereignty and research leadership.
“The University of Toronto will work with SciNet to operate the new system. This is just another investment in that remarkable system…and will accelerate the research you are doing and will continue to do.”
He said the AI computing infrastructure housed at U of T will serve researchers across Canada.
“This is key…Small universities will benefit. Research hospitals, Northern and Indigenous communities, industry partners and innovators of all sizes will benefit.”
The federal investment will consist of $40 million in 2025-26, with $2.5 million spent in the following two fiscal years on staff and operating costs. U of T will contribute $100,000 to the initiative, and SciNet will provide technical expertise and operational support to ensure the system adheres to environmental and operational best practices while strengthening Canada’s sovereignty, security and global competitiveness in AI.
An early leader in AI research, U of T is home to University Professor Emeritus Jeffrey Hinton, widely known as the “Godfather of AI.” His pioneering work in deep learning laid the foundation for today’s AI revolution and won him the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics. Some of Hinton’s graduate students have become global AI leaders, including Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI and co-founder and chief scientist of Safe Superintelligence.
Today, U of T researchers are developing and applying AI across fields, from drug discovery to climate change, while working to ensure progress benefits society as a whole through organizations like the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.
By expanding Canada’s AI computing capabilities, U of T and its partners are helping researchers accelerate discovery, equipping students with job-ready skills in machine learning, and helping Canada remain competitive on the world stage.
“We all know that the discovery landscape is changing at an incredible pace,” said Gail Murphy, vice president of the Canadian Digital Research Alliance. “As AI transforms every sector, our competitiveness and economic resilience now depend on a strong and sovereign digital backbone.”
Murphy added that public computing and research data are “national assets” that must be scaled up and protected.
“We know technology moves fast, and to keep Canada competitive, we all need to move just as fast. This funding from the federal government will help us provide AI-dedicated computing power to Canada’s top minds in record time.”
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