Microsoft Investing $500 Million to Grow Digital Footprint in Quebec

By Robb M. Stewart

Microsoft will invest $500 million to expand its digital infrastructure footprint in Quebec as it accelerates its artificial intelligence and computing capacity in Canada.

The technology company said Wednesday it plans to grow its cloud computing and AI infrastructure in the province with the investment over the next two years in an effort that also will massively increase the size of its local cloud infrastructure footprint across the country.

Chris Barry, president of Microsoft Canada, said the plans build on past investment in Quebec and will provide the province's private and public sector organizations with more capacity and create a foundation to scale solutions faster to market and compete globally, while preparing Quebec for a new AI economy.

Microsoft said the investment will expand its computing capacity by about 240% over the next three years and accelerate the pace of AI innovation, adding to capacity already in place across the province that includes an existing datacentre region launched in 2016. The company said that future datacentre locations, which are set to begin construction in the coming months in several cities, will help meet Microsoft's sustainability goals to be carbon negative, water positive and zero waste by 2030.

Plans for the investment coincides with the release of a report from Ernst & Young that found that Microsoft and its ecosystem in Quebec, which includes more than 3,200 partners and cloud infrastructure accounts, supports more than 57,000 job, and contributes billions of dollars annually to Quebec's gross domestic product, Microsoft said.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 22, 2023 07:43 ET (12:43 GMT)

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