The federal government might be quietly sitting on an AI gold mine, and the tech industry is politely asking it to stand up.
Driving the news: Canadian tech executives are petitioning Ottawa to spin off the publicly owned semiconductor lab, Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre (CPFC), into a private or semi-private company, per The Logic.
- The independent Ottawa-based facility is one of only three in the world that can make compound semiconductors: light-based chips that are crucial to data centres.
- Tech leaders argue that the lab, which is already losing business because of its limited capacity, needs more investment and independence to meet demand.
Catch-up: In typical federal government fashion, a consultant is already on the case. The feds tapped PwC in the spring to look into CPFC’s options for switching up its governance and beefing up production.
- Advocates argue that CPFC has the potential to be the next TSMC, which started as a joint venture with the Taiwan government and is now the world’s largest chipmaker.
Why it matters: Competing directly with the U.S. on all things AI is out of the cards, but experts say Canada has the chance to carve out a lucrative niche in the AI supply chain where it already has an edge, including with these highly sought-after chips.
Big picture: Canada was an early AI research leader, but the economic upside of that head start has largely flowed abroad. Building more AI infrastructure at home that can service domestic companies and talent could be a big part of reversing that trend.—LA