Canada to join EU network of supercomputers

Canada is joining the European Union’s supercomputing network, giving Canadian companies, startups and researchers access to European computing resources used to train and develop artificial intelligence. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the partnership as a way to combine that infrastructure with Canada’s established AI sector to build competitive and safer systems. The network is operated by EuroHPC, an EU public-private organization with an €8.2 billion budget. It includes 14 supercomputers, 19 AI-focused facilities and 10 quantum computers; EuroHPC is also preparing seven large AI data-center hubs, with planned investment of €30 billion. Canada’s participation extends its existing connection to EU research through Horizon Europe, which partly funds EuroHPC.

The partnership is described as an early example of cooperation among “middle powers” seeking to strengthen their position in AI. Computing capacity is essential for developing advanced models, and access to shared European infrastructure could benefit Canadian researchers and businesses. But one expert cautions that joining the network will not substantially reduce reliance on the United States, which is building computing clusters at a much larger scale. Meaningful independence, the expert argues, would require major new infrastructure rather than cooperation alone. Canada becomes the 39th country involved in the network, which already includes all 27 EU members and non-EU participants such as Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Israel and Turkey.