Accelerating Canada's Semiconductor Industry: FABrIC announces $35.6M total investment from $13.4M funding in market-ready innovation

MONTREAL, June 26, 2025 /CNW/ - Twenty-three recipients representing twenty projects of the first round of FABrIC Challenge Projects were announced today.  Leveraging $35.6M in total investment, the $13.4M in funding provided by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), calls on the semiconductor industry to innovate in product and process development to enhance the resilience of the supply chain for Canadian industry, from healthcare to the automotive sector. Managed by CMC Microsystems, FABrIC is a five-year, $223 million initiative to secure Canada's future in semiconductors.

This first call for Challenges was launched in September 2024 and included:

• Product Development, to develop and commercialize new advanced sensors and other semiconductor products for strategic end sectors
• Fabrication Processes, to develop semiconductor manufacturing capabilities in strategic core technologies (photonics, MEMS, quantum, and compound semiconductors) and making them widely accessible across Canada.

The response to the Round One call for proposals was tremendous, and generated pan-Canadian interest and participation. There were 138 expressions of interest submitted from across Canada, targeting each of FABrIC's core technologies.  The total value of proposals was over $235M – more than the full five-year value of the FABrIC initiative.

The final selection included 20 projects from across the country, with twelve in Quebec, five in Ontario, two in British Columbia and one in Alberta.

End-use applications include some of the most important drivers of the economy: datacom, health & biotechnology, aerospace, mobility, advanced manufacturing, cleantech & sustainable energy, as well as quantum computing and sensing technologies. Every project has a clear path to commercialization.

Summary of Round One Challenge Recipients

Product Development Challenge Recipients
Axonal Networks Inc.	paraDOX™: (parallel Digital Optical Cross (X) Connect) A new Ethernet Packet Switch Architecture using Silicon Photonic Optical Logic.	Montreal, Quebec	$850K
Boréas Technologies Inc.	Force and location sensor with piezo haptic driver integrated on a single die using a single piezo transducer to perform all functions.	Bromont, Quebec	$925K
Digitho Technologies inc. (DIGITHO)	Reprogrammable photomask for direct writing capability in lithography for Semiconductors.	Bromont, Quebec	$438K
Edgewater Wireless Systems Inc.	Next-generation Spectrum Slicing for IoT and Wi-Fi applications.	Kanata, Ontario	$921K
ICSPI Corp.	Development of an atomic force microscope semiconductor metrology system.	Waterloo, Ontario	$623K
MMSENSE Technologies Inc.   Co-Lead: C-COM Satellite Systems Inc	High Efficiency Beamforming IC and Intelligent Beam-forming Antenna Modules for Satellite IoT and ESA Terminals.	Waterloo, Ontario	$911K
PROVA Innovations Ltd.	Advanced ASIC Development for Real-Time Gait Analysis in Rehabilitation Devices.	Ancaster, Ontario	$398K
Qubic Inc.	Development and commercialization of low-noise superconducting amplifiers for scalable quantum computing.	Sherbrooke, Quebec	$925K
Ranovus Inc.	ODIN^® ELS-Canada Capability Demonstrator (ELS-CCD).	Kanata, Ontario	$923K
Soundskrit Inc.	Development of a directional MEMS microphone resilient to wind noise for outdoor consumer devices.	Montreal, Quebec	$173K
Fabrication Process Challenges
Aeponyx Enterprises Inc.	Development of an advanced integrated photonic platform targeted for operation between 450 and 1065 nm for quantum applications.	Montreal, Quebec	$867K
Anyon Systems Inc.   Co-Lead: C2MI - Centre de Collaboration MiQro Innovation	Low Volume Prototyping and Testing of 3D Quantum Chips.	Dorval Quebec	$1M
C2MI - Centre de Collaboration MiQro Innovation   Co-lead: Institut interdisciplinaire d'innovation technologique (3iT), Université de Sherbrooke	Die to Wafer (D2W) Heterogeneous Direct Bonding.	Bromont, Quebec	$119K
Dream Photonics Inc.	LINC3D – Laser-Integrated Nanophotonic Chiplets using 3D Printing, Fabrication Process Development.	Vancouver, BC	$322K
Jones Microwave Inc.	Commercial Scale-Up of High-Frequency, High-Power, and High-Speed Light-Activated Solid-State Plasma Switches.	Edmonton, Alberta	$349K
INO (Institut national d'optique) Co-leads: Aeponyx  Enterprises Inc., C2MI - Centre de Collaboration MiQro Innovation, EXFO Inc.	Establishing a Canadian TFLN integrated circuit prototyping and fabrication capacity.	Quebec City, Quebec	$965K
Micro-°K Sensors Inc.	New fabrication processes for advanced MEMS thermal sensors.	Montreal, Quebec	$922K
Omniply Technologies Inc.	Next Generation III-V Semiconductor Wafer Platform for Large-Format Integrated Photonics.	Montreal, Quebec	$571K
Quantum Recon	Quantum I/O: Fabricating next generation photonic circuits to unlock scalable quantum computing.	Vancouver, British Columbia	$691K
Teledyne MEMS (a business unit of Teledyne Digital Imaging Inc.)	Cu-TSV platform development.	Bromont, Quebec	$409K

For more information on supported projects, click here.

"The Canadian semiconductor ecosystem is energized," said Lynn McNeil, VP of FABrIC. "Semiconductors are embedded in almost every aspect of daily life and the sectors that power our economy depend on them," she continued.  "From sensors that detect subtle but significant health changes to complex hardware accelerators and optimized chips that run increasingly complex AI algorithms, semiconductor technology is crucial.

The semiconductor supply chain is one of the world's largest and most complicated. It draws on highly specialized materials, components, manufacturing equipment, expertise and processes to design, fabricate, assemble, package and test finished chips.  Our expertise in photonics, MEMS, compound semiconductors and quantum technology gives Canada the opportunity to be a significant player in this global supply chain."

FABrIC's role is to stimulate and accelerate those opportunities.

McNeil also highlighted the collaborations between firms and organizations in the first round of projects. "FABrIC is about more than supporting individual companies, it is creating a strong, collaborative, national semiconductor ecosystem that supports innovation and competitiveness in all the traditional industries the Canadian economy relies on. The projects announced today will see industry and universities work in partnership to develop new products and processes, and to train and develop skilled professionals that industry needs to succeed in competitive markets."

CMC Microsystems President and CEO, Gordon Harling, said, "For over 40 years, CMC has been training students for Canada's semiconductor industry and supporting innovation taking place in research labs, early-stage start-ups, and established firms. This country produces talented, creative engineers that are recruited by Canadian start-ups to top firms from around the world. FABrIC fuels industrial development and ensures that there is a steady pipeline of talent to meet the needs of industry in Canada."

FABrIC encourages collaboration across the entire ecosystem and builds resilience into our supply chain. That is essential to ensuring that Canada remains competitive.

"Semiconductor innovation is critical to Canada's national security and plays a vital role in driving economic growth and global competitiveness. The investments announced today by the FABrIC Network will help firms across the country grow while creating high-paying jobs and enabling the development of made-in-Canada intellectual property (IP) that will benefit the entire Canadian semiconductor ecosystem." – The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions.

For more information on upcoming Challenges and other FABrIC resources, visit https://fabricinnovation.ca/challenges/ and subscribe to the FABrIC newsletter.

SOURCE CMC Microsystems

Media Contact: Kevin Dobie, [email protected], 613-539-1027