Mila, 5C, and Hypertec today announced a strategic collaboration to reinforce Canada's leadership in artificial intelligence. The initiative involves the creation of a Sovereign AI Research Hub developed in partnership with Hypertec, Mila, and 5C at Hypertec's global headquarters and technology campus in LaSalle, with total investments of up to $250 million to help develop the project. The LaSalle campus will host Hypertec and 5C's operations alongside the Sovereign AI Research Hub with Mila. This new facility will accelerate technological adoption by Canadian researchers, startups, and entrepreneurs by providing secure access to advanced compute capacity, showcasing AI research innovations, and advancing sustainable infrastructure design. This collaboration will deepen state-of-the-art benchmarking techniques and scaling strategies for today's compute infrastructure. It will not only attract global interests, but act as an inspiration for the future of AI infrastructure worldwide.
Next-generation campus: Global headquarters and technology site featuring emerging ultra-high-density systems and solutions with dedicated AI R&D facilities. Sovereign AI research hub in collaboration with Mila: Up to 3 MW of secure AI infrastructure capacity for the latest generation of GPUs from NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel, as well as additional accelerated chips, operated under rigorous regulatory and security standards. Accelerated innovation: Infrastructure designed to support researchers, entrepreneurs and startups in developing and scaling new AI applications. Sustainability leadership: Direct-to-chip, immersion cooling, and applied heat recovery technologies reducing energy consumption and costs by up to 50%. Economic impact: Creation of more than 50 highly skilled jobs across academia, healthcare, finance, natural resources, and defense. Collaboration: Strengthening partnerships across industry, government, and academia to reinforce Montreal's role as a center of AI excellence.
"For researchers and startups that are constantly pushing the boundaries of AI, access to state-of-the-art computing infrastructure is an absolute necessity. This partnership creates a unique opportunity to leverage Mila's expertise and creativity to help solve one of today's most pressing challenges. Developing state-of-the-art compute with less energy and more intelligence is the way forward to scale Canada's global impact," said Valérie Pisano, President and CEO of Mila.
"At 5C, our mission is to unlock the next AI frontier factory by deploying sovereign, sustainable, and scalable AI infrastructure. The hub is where innovation meets impact—fueling growth for Canada's AI ecosystem," said Jonathan Ahdoot, CEO of 5C.
"Hypertec's new LaSalle campus will anchor the next generation of AI innovation in Quebec. By investing in infrastructure and collaborating with Mila and 5C, we are creating a platform for global leadership," said Simon Ahdoot, President of Hypertec Group.
"I am delighted for the Canadian ecosystem to see an announcement of this magnitude, which demonstrates the mobilization of our industry from coast to coast. This is exactly what ALL IN showcases as the largest AI event in Canada. Thanks to investments like Hypertec's and visionary partners such as Mila and 5C, our ecosystem is equipping itself with the means to grow, to establish itself internationally, and to shape the future of an AI-powered economy." ––Isabelle Turcotte, co-founder and CEO, ALL IN
"The Government of Canada welcomes this significant private investment, which strengthens our position as a global leader in cloud infrastructure and AI compute. Hypertec, 5C, Mila, and other Canadian innovators across the country share our government's commitment to data sovereignty and security. As demand for AI accelerates, our support for Canadian data centre operators ensures robust, sovereign capabilities to power the next generation of technology solutions." —The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
"Today, Montreal once again demonstrates its role as a global leader in artificial intelligence. With Hypertec's $250 million investment and the new Sovereign AI Research Hub with Mila and 5C, this initiative is advancing Canada's digital sovereignty and strengthening the backbone of our AI economy—keeping Canadian data secure, powering our researchers and entrepreneurs, and ensuring our innovations are built here, for Canadians and for the world."—The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation
"The Government of Quebec proudly welcomes the announcement of these private investments, which once again demonstrate that Montreal is a true hub for the growth of artificial intelligence in Canada and North America. It showcases the expertise that has been built here over the years. The collaboration between Mila, 5C, and Hypertec will further strengthen Quebec's leadership in this field across Canada," said Christine Fréchette, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy.
Together, the LaSalle campus and Sovereign AI Research Hub provide a blueprint for the future of AI infrastructure in Canada. By combining sovereign compute with sustainable practices, the initiative will accelerate research, attract global talent, and ensure Quebec and Canada remain at the forefront of artificial intelligence. Testing in the lab will range from immersion cooling for PCIe systems to the latest GPUs and hardware acceleration for AI training, inference, and fine-tuning, all with the goal of delivering the best performance-per-dollar, a foundation for frugal AI. Combined with Mila's cutting-edge research and the infrastructure strengths of 5C and Hypertec, the partnership delivers top-tier compute capacity and ensures continuity regardless of shifts in software platforms or industry trends, laying the groundwork for an optimized AI factory built on sovereign, scalable, and future-proof technology and serving as a model that makes Canada shine as a leader in building the AI factories of tomorrow.
Founded by Professor Yoshua Bengio, Mila is the world's largest academic research institute specializing in deep learning. Based in Montreal, Mila brings together more than 1,400 researchers focused on machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and responsible AI. Its mission is to advance socially beneficial AI and train the next generation of scientists and entrepreneurs.
5C Group is one of North America's largest AI digital infrastructure providers. The company delivers purpose-built infrastructure for AI with a network of state-of-the-art data centers. With over 2 gigawatts (GW) of roadmap capacity and the ability to power hundreds of thousands of GPUs, 5C Group delivers secure, reliable, and sustainable data center and AI infrastructure solutions at scale for the largest AI users with the most demanding workloads. For more information, please visit www.5c.ai.
Founded in 1984, Hypertec's mission is to bring expertise, innovation, and strong partnerships to transform challenges into opportunities for sustainable growth through technology solutions. Trusted by industry leaders across AI, financial services, healthcare, public sectors and others, we serve clients in over 80 countries and empower them to push boundaries and lead their industries through transformative technology. For more information, please visit www.hypertec.com.
TechIntelPro empowers B2B technology decision-makers with the latest industry trends, deep insights, leadership perspectives and actionable intelligence to drive both organizational and professional milestones—and thrive on the tech pulse.