Ottawa to invest up to $1.6B in Canadian AI firm Cohere

2:16 Carney announces $1.6B investment in Cohere to strengthen Canada’s AI sovereignty 

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday his government will invest up to $1.6 billion in Canadian AI company Cohere.

He made the announcement in Montreal as he welcomed European Union leaders to a summit aimed at forging closer ties.

“We are not waiting for the future of AI to be decided somewhere else by those we don’t know or by whom we don’t trust. We’re building it right here in the right way,” Carney said.

In April, Cohere announced it would merge with Germany’s Aleph Alpha and said the company would be “anchored in” Germany and Canada.

On Thursday, Carney called the partnership a concrete example of what Canada and Europe can build together.

He also said that, under the agreement, Cohere will stay Canadian.

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Carney said the government is making the announcement on “a commercial basis, alongside private investors including Nvidia, Bell, and Germany’s Schwarz Group.”

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Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez said at the announcement that the company, which was founded seven years ago, is now “one of the very few companies in the world building frontier AI technology at a global scale.”

He added that it’s the largest AI company outside the U.S. and China.

In a press release issued Thursday, the government said the funding would be provided in stages, with regular reporting on commitments made by the company.

Those commitments include creating at least 1,000 “new high-paying Canadian technical jobs” and committing at least $1.7 billion to building more computing infrastructure by 2030.

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The government says Cohere will also maintain its Canadian headquarters and incorporation, invest in research partnerships, create opportunities for students and graduates and continue working with the Canadian AI Safety Institute.

“Cohere will now be able to develop far more advanced models and products, scale up its computing infrastructure, and expand its Canadian workforce to serve more businesses and governments in Canada and around the world,” the press release said.

“Building this capability at home ultimately means that Canadian businesses and governments will have more choice in how they adopt AI and greater control over their sensitive information.”

In 2024, the government announced it would provide up to $240 million to Cohere to boost its computing capacity. In 2025, Ottawa signed an agreement with the company to identify areas where AI can enhance public service operations.

Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon has often pointed to Cohere as an element of Canada’s strength in AI, saying Canada is one of only a few countries around the world with a large language model.