It is learned that Canada will invest $0.12 billion CAD (equivalent to $88.2 million USD) to build a nationwide chip network within five years. Currently, there is an increasing demand for the Canadian government to take more measures to boost its lagging semiconductor industry. François-Philippe Champagne, Canada's Minister of Industry, announced the expenditure of the Federal Strategic Innovation Fund on Thursday. This investment supports a $0.22 billion CAD project led by CMC Microsystems, a non-profit organization that aims to help Canadian startups commercialize new technologies.

According to reports, this project, called "Fabric Network Integration Component Manufacturing," will fund the production of prototype products and provide participants with cheaper tools, software and training. Fabric also provides up to $10 million CAD in funding for hardware development in semiconductors, superconductors, intelligent sensors and photonics. Gordon Harling, President of CMC, said in a statement that the support for Fabric ensures Canada's future in semiconductors and advanced manufacturing.

In April of this year, IBM (IBM.US) announced a joint investment with the Canadian and Quebec governments of $0.187 billion CAD to expand IBM Canada's chip packaging plant located about 50 miles east of Montreal in Bromont.

While some predict the revival of Canada's chip industry, others point out that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is not doing enough to keep up with global competition, especially after the U.S. chip bill was passed in 2022. The bill earmarked $39 billion USD in direct appropriations, plus $75 billion USD in loans and loan guarantees to encourage semiconductor production in the United States. In contrast, the Trudeau government has promised billions of dollars in subsidies to coordinate with the incentive measures in the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act to attract global automakers to produce electric vehicle batteries in Canada. Since the chip bill was announced, the United States has launched more than 50 semiconductor projects.

Paul Slaby, director of the Canadian Semiconductor Committee, recently complained that Canada lacks an industrial strategy for the chip industry. Slaby said at the Americas International Economic Forum in Montreal in June that the Trudeau government has only recently started to form a dedicated team for the industry. He suggested that Canada seek to establish its position in international trade by controlling a niche segment of the supply chain, as the Netherlands did for its lithography manufacturer ASML (ASML.US).