U.S. Big Tech Dominates Canadian Cloud Market Ahead of AI Strategy

Three U.S. technology firms—Amazon, Microsoft and Google—control about 85 % of Canada’s publicly‑available cloud infrastructure, far above their 66 % global share. In Canada, Amazon holds roughly 42 % of the market, Microsoft 31 % and Google 12 %. Since 2021 Ottawa has spent nearly US$1.3 billion on cloud services from these providers, with most of the spending going to Microsoft.

A new report from the Canadian Anti‑Monopoly Project, released just before the government’s national AI strategy, warns that this concentration poses a sovereign risk and calls for policies that promote competition and interoperability. The upcoming AI strategy is expected to include measures to build resilient, sustainable compute capacity under Canadian governance. Prime Minister Mark Carney has emphasized the need for Canada to cooperate with like‑minded democracies to avoid being forced to choose between geopolitical hegemons and hyperscalers.