# Canada’s AI Ecosystem Needs More Urgency > Source: > Published: 2026-07-06 22:00:00+00:00 If Canada wants to stay competitive in AI, it must move beyond research leadership and start building sovereign AI infrastructure at scale. That was an overarching theme at the recent CHIPS NORTH Executive Summit, including a panel discussion focused on Canada’s path from AI research strength to domestic AI hardware capability. **Transforming research into sovereign infrastructure** Cameron Schuler, chief commercialization officer and VP, industry innovation at Vector Institute, said Canada’s AI advantage is built on talent, but the country must move faster to turn that talent into commercial leadership. He framed “sovereign AI” as a question of hardware, data, people, and access to compute. Canada’s AI story began long before today’s generative boom, Schuler noted, thanks to decades of investment in the foundational research that made modern machine learning possible. “It really was that intersection of data and computing,” he said. “That’s what mattered.” [View All](https://www.eetimes.com/category/sponsored-content/) But despite recognizing AI’s strategic value early and building one of the world’s largest AI talent pools, Schuler said Canadian firms often move cautiously, even as competitors race ahead. “Companies need to move faster,” he said. “They need to do more.” Schuler pointed to sovereign AI as an increasingly important concept, one that depends on “hardware, data, people” and on who controls the infrastructure behind them. The central issue is access—companies and researchers need enough compute to stay competitive, and they need confidence that their data remains under Canadian control. **Controlling the data center stack** Andrej Zdravkovic, senior VP and chief software officer at AMD, said Canada’s technology ecosystem has the talent and research base to compete globally, but it still needs to convert that advantage into deployed systems. “We absolutely excel in research innovation.” He said the next step is to put that into practice through data centers, system integration, and closer collaboration with universities and government. Zdravkovic argued that Canada should build more of the infrastructure that supports AI and high-performance computing domestically, rather than relying entirely on external systems. He said the real challenge is not simply where chips are made, but whether Canada can own and operate the data center processes that sit on top of them. **Balancing sovereignty with collaboration** Sovereignty, however, doesn’t equate to isolation. In a fireside chat closing the summit, Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, said the country’s strategy is to rely on partnerships with trusted allies and companies while keeping talent and technology anchored at home. “Sovereignty does not mean solitude,” he said. Solomon [also highlighted photonics](https://www.eetimes.com/canada-spins-off-photonics-lab/), packaging, quantum labs, and data centers as critical components of the next-generation infrastructure Canada needs to develop AI models, automation, and agents. “None of it happens without the stack underneath the chips, the compute, the power, the talent, the data,” he said, framing infrastructure as the real battleground for the next wave of technology development. Keith Strier, AMD’s senior VP of global AI markets, said Canada’s strengths in photonics, energy, data centers, and talent give it a real edge in the AI race. Sovereign compute has moved from a niche idea to a strategic necessity, he said. “The imperative to invest in sovereign infrastructure is essential.” Strier described the evolution of sovereign AI in three phases: an early strategy, a wave of investment after ChatGPT, and today’s focus on resilience, which he said requires “a robust and diverse ecosystem” rather than dependence on a single cloud or stack. Kirk Ouellette, VP global strategy at STMicroelectronics, said the AI data center boom is reshaping semiconductor markets and creating urgent opportunities for Canada’s technology ecosystem. “I don’t think any of us expected it to be so big so quick,” he said. He noted that a single data center rack can hold as many as 45,000 devices per rack, while other segments such as electric vehicles contain 2,000 chips, illustrating why investment and supply chains are under strain. Ouellette noted that Canada currently lacks a complete domestic AI stack, which presents an opportunity to scale up more companies in Canada. **Edge AI offers Canada greenfield opportunities** The AI stack in the data center is not the only opportunity for Canada. Ottawa-based AI hardware startup Blumind aims to bring efficient AI to battery‑powered devices and robots—current AI chips are power-hungry, tethered to the grid, and don’t contribute to Canada’s edge-processing sovereignty. The company recently received CDN $1.5 million (~ $1.1 million) from FABrIC, a Strategic Response Fund initiative of the Government of Canada, [to address those limitations](https://fabricinnovation.ca/blumind-inc/) with its ultra-low-power analog AI for physical AI. Niraj Mathur, CEO and co‑founder of Blumind, said on‑device AI is essential for use cases constrained by latency, privacy, and energy. He also sees Canada’s strengths residing in research and early-stage commercialization, but innovative companies need more support to scale up. He highlighted edge and physical AI applications, including robotics and health sensors, as high‑value endpoints, noting that such devices will need latency measured in microseconds and orders‑of‑magnitude reductions in power consumption to run locally. Mathur said Blumind sees a massive opportunity in this segment and believes Canada is well-positioned to lead in what he described as a “greenfield, blue ocean” space. “It’s in its infancy, so it’s a great opportunity for Canada to develop a lot of capability,” he said. ##### Read also: [Defense Sends Clear Signal to Canadian Semiconductor Industry](https://www.eetimes.com/defense-sends-clear-signal-to-canadian-semiconductor-industry/) [Canada Accelerates Quantum Aspirations](https://www.eetimes.com/canada-accelerates-quantum-aspirations/) [Canada Eyes AI Opportunities at the Edge](https://www.eetimes.com/canada-eyes-ai-opportunities-at-the-edge/)