Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, announced the launch of Phase 1 of the Canadian Quantum Champions Program (CQCP), an investment of up to $92 million. This is part of the $334.3 million investment over five years announced in Budget 2025 to strengthen Canada’s quantum ecosystem.
This major new initiative will anchor top Canadian quantum companies and talent at home. The CQCP will support Canadian companies as they advance toward fault-tolerant, industrial-scale quantum computers capable of solving real-world problems across industries.
As part of Phase 1, the government has signed agreements with Canadian-headquartered firms Anyon Systems, Nord Quantique, Photonic and Xanadu Quantum Technologies for up to $23 million each to accelerate the development of fault-tolerant quantum computers that demonstrate industrial application.
As part of the CQCP, the National Research Council of Canada will establish the Benchmarking Quantum Platform initiative to undertake the expert assessment of the underlying quantum technologies, working closely with the companies. Details about later phases of the CQCP, including funding, milestones and requirements, will be provided as the program advances.
This investment supports the forthcoming Defence Industrial Strategy, as quantum computing technologies have several defence applications, including in cryptography, advanced materials, signal processing and pattern recognition for threat analysis.
