Driving Discovery
- Fundamental research
- Applied research
- Commercialization
Sovereign · Secure · Sustainable
Build Canada's AI Infrastructure. Grow Canada's Future.
Canada has an opportunity to build the sovereign supercomputing system needed to accelerate scientific discovery, advance knowledge, strengthen economic competitiveness, and ensure Canadian researchers and innovators have access to world-leading computing power.
Led by Queen’s University and Simon Fraser University (SFU), the National AI Supercomputing Consortium (NAISC) will bring together leading Canadian industry partners to deliver a sovereign, secure, and sustainable supercomputing system by 2028, designed to serve Canadians from coast to coast.
A Canadian solution. Built for Canadian priorities.
The compute gap
Top 25
Canada can lead
Artificial intelligence is transforming how countries innovate, compete, and solve society's most complex challenges.
Underpinning AI advancements is the infrastructure to support it – supercomputers. AI supercomputers are the powerful engines that analyze massive amounts of information and support the fundamental and applied research that drives discovery and innovation across all sectors. It is the infrastructure that underpins critical industries and fields – from national security, healthcare, energy and environment, to manufacturing and next-generation technologies.
Yet Canada is the only G7 nation without a top 25 supercomputer.
As AI becomes increasingly central to research and innovation, Canada needs sovereign supercomputing capacity that keeps Canadian data, intellectual property, and talent here at home.
The countries that invest in advanced compute today will shape tomorrow's economy. Canada has an opportunity to lead.
The countries that invest in advanced compute today will shape tomorrow's economy.
Canadian sovereignty
Build it here.
Govern it here.
Keep the benefits here.
As trade tensions and uncertainty in the Canada–U.S. relationship grow, Canada cannot assume continued access to U.S.-based advanced computing capacity on the same terms as today. Building sovereign, large-scale computing infrastructure at home will safeguard Canadian access for Canadian research and Canadian industry.
The Queen's-SFU proposal would create a distributed national platform anchored in Ontario and British Columbia and accessible to researchers and industry from coast to coast. Canadian public institutions would own and govern the infrastructure, helping keep Canadian data, intellectual property, research and talent under Canadian stewardship.
It is also ready to proceed. Project sites in Kingston, Burnaby and Kamloops are fully permitted with secured access to power – providing critical delivery certainty as data-centre approvals and power availability become increasingly constrained.
The infrastructure would be Canadian-owned, Canadian-governed and operated on Canadian soil. The platform and technology refreshes would also prioritize Canadian ingenuity – procuring from Canadian suppliers where possible, choosing firms that employ Canadians, and bootstrapping Canadian companies to become technology leaders.
The result: world-leading Canadian AI compute capacity by 2028, three years ahead of the federal government's 2031 AI infrastructure objective.
Why universities
A National Platform Built for Public Value
Around the world – in Switzerland, Japan, and the United States – the most advanced supercomputing systems are operated by universities because they combine research and teaching excellence, talent development, public accountability, and long-term stewardship.
SFU and Queen’s build on this successful model with a distributed, Canadian-made supercomputing platform.
Developing Talent
- Recruiting top experts to Canada
- Training Canada's next generation of AI experts
Protecting Canadian Interests
- Canadian-owned and secured
- Public accountability
- Canadian data and IP
- Equitable access
One coordinated system
From Vision to Delivery
Canada needs supercomputing infrastructure that can be built now.
The proposed system would be:
- National in scope with sites hosted by Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and Queen’s University in Ontario
- Operational by 2028
- Designed for global top 5 performance
- Secure, sovereign and sustainable
- Supported by Canadian partners
Access would be governed through an independent national framework supporting research excellence. A cost-recovery model would support long-term system renewal.
Industry-enabled delivery
Supported by Canada's Leading Industry Partners
Queen’s and SFU bring together Canadian expertise across research, digital infrastructure, advanced computing, and sustainable technologies.
Our extensive partner network includes innovative companies who will contribute specialized expertise to ensure the proposed infrastructure is ready to build, ready to scale, and designed for long-term success.
Proven Canadian expertise
Canada's Strongest Team to Deliver
Simon Fraser University
- Operates Canada’s most sustainable data centre (industry-leading power usage effectiveness of 1.07) and Canada's largest public supercomputer, Fir
- Serving 24,000+ researchers and industry partners from coast to coast
Queen's University
- Home to Canada's leading supercomputing experts who have worked on the world’s top systems
- Home to the Centre for Advanced Computing and CAESAR Lab
Together, the universities have created a coordinated national platform that expands Canada's sovereign supercomputing capacity.
Canada would become home to its first global top 5 supercomputer, hosted by Queen’s in Kingston, Ontario, and a global top 25 supercomputer in British Columbia, hosted by SFU. Queen’s would also draw on its partnership with Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec and its leadership in Canada’s quantum sector, including the development of quantum computing, algorithms, secure communications solutions, and post-quantum cryptography. Together, this distributed model would operate as a coordinated, “made-in-Canada” system, working with Canadian vendors and suppliers and driving innovation in sustainable computing.
Sustainable by design
Sustainable by Design
- Clean energy-powered operations
- Closed-loop water reuse cooling systems with water use equivalent to a standard office building
- Closed-loop water reuse cooling systems that do not draw from local water supply
- Energy-efficient cooling and heat-recovery systems
Learn more about NAISC
The National AI Supercomputing Consortium represents a bold vision for Canada's AI future.
To learn more, connect with the project team: info@naisc.ca
Connect with the project teamCanada helped pioneer artificial intelligence.
Now we have an opportunity to build the supercomputing infrastructure that will shape the future.