Microsoft is set to make a multi-billion-dollar investment in data centers and AI infrastructure across Ontario, Canada.

The exact figure has not been shared, but it is part of Microsoft's wider $13.72 billion commitment to Canada, revealed in December 2025, with the capital being deployed between 2023 and 2027. The cloud giant specified at the time that $5.42bn would be spent between 2025 and 2027.

The investment will see Microsoft expanding its cloud and AI infrastructure footprint in the province, which is currently home to the data centers hosting Microsoft's Azure Canada Central region, which launched in 2016.

The data center projects are expected to bring 1,000 jobs during the construction phase, and 250 full-time roles once operational.

“Strong data infrastructure has long underpinned the success of our provincial economy, supporting growth in the tech, health care, and financial sectors,” said Vic Fedeli, Canada's minister of economic development, job creation and trade. “As demand for AI, cloud computing, and data processing continues to grow, Microsoft’s investment will ensure companies looking to invest in the province have the infrastructure they need to stay competitive and meet the moment.”

“Cloud and AI infrastructure bring enormous opportunity, and we believe everyone should share in the benefits,” said Matt Milton, president of Microsoft Canada. “We’re proud to invest in Ontario’s future with a Community-First approach, helping ensure the benefits of AI are realized across the province, creating jobs and supporting long-term growth."

Details about any newly planned data centers have yet to be shared. DCD has contacted Microsoft for further information.

The company is known to be developing in West Woodside, Vaughan, in southern Ontario. Local publication Vaughan Citizen reported on April 11 that a data center in the area was nearing operations. Baxtel lists a proposed YTO14 campus in the area that will feature two three-story buildings on the southeast corner of Highway 7 and Commerce Valley Drive East in the Commerce Valley neighborhood of Markham.

Urban Toronto, meanwhile, lists the YTO12 data center project, described also as a three-story data center, and set to sit north of an existing two-story data center dubbed YTO11. These buildings are located on the west side of Highway 27, north of Langstaff Road in Vaughan's West Woodbridge Industrial Area.

In a Microsoft blog post penned by the company's Canada president, Matt Milton, Microsoft has committed to meeting its Community First AI Infrastructure initiative in Canada.

To achieve this, the company will cover the costs associated with its electricity use, and is "working closely with provincial governments, utilities, system operators, and regulators to align data center growth with planned investments in generation and transmission" in both Ontario and Quebec, where it is developing data centers.

In addition, Microsoft is cooling the data centers in Canada primarily with free-cooling, enabled by the cooler climate. The company is using water cooling for around five percent of the year, and is investing in local water systems.

In Quebec, Microsoft broke ground on a data center project in June 2024 in L’Ancienne-Lorette.

The cloud giant has also signed several carbon capture agreements in the country. Earlier this month, Microsoft signed a 626,000-ton carbon removal agreement with Svante Technologies and Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) from a bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) project in Saskatchewan, Canada. This was revealed just days before Microsoft paused investing in further carbon capture projects.

Other carbon removal projects backed by Microsoft in Canada include DAC credits from Deep Sky.