Sanofi Bets $294M on Toronto AI Hub

Sanofi’s Toronto AI expansion will add machine learning roles focused on tools for R&D, manufacturing and global operations. 

Sanofi is putting $294 million into its Toronto Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence, adding 50 AI and machine learning roles in Ontario.

Sanofi’s Toronto AI Centre of Excellence dates back to 2022, when the company chose the city as the base for a global AI hub within its wider digital network. The Centre was built to develop data and AI products for Sanofi’s R&D work and broader business operations. Early hiring was focused on areas such as data science, computational biology, AI strategy and data engineering.

The new jobs add to more than 150 digital roles and are expected to be added by 2028.

The Toronto team will build and roll out AI tools for Sanofi’s research, manufacturing and business operations worldwide. 

Sanofi chose Toronto after reviewing international options, pointing to Ontario’s AI talent, digital infrastructure and life sciences base. Invest Ontario is backing the project with a conditional grant of up to $5 million.

The expansion will also support Sanofi’s technology partnerships, grow the company’s downtown Toronto AI Centre and expand its internship program, which currently recruits more than 30 students a year from Ontario universities.

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Sanofi has a large manufacturing and vaccines footprint in Ontario. In 2024, Sanofi opened Canada’s largest biomanufacturing facility in Toronto, an $800 million project focused on domestic vaccine production and global supply. The company also announced a $925 million influenza vaccine biomanufacturing facility in 2021, which is expected to become operational later this year.

Sanofi’s Toronto campus produces vaccines that protect more than seven million Canadians against infectious diseases each year and exports vaccines to more than 60 countries, according to the Ontario government. Sanofi said its Canadian investments include more than $2 billion in new infrastructure spending by 2028 across its 52-acre Toronto campus.

Ontario’s life sciences strategy targets 85,000 high-value life sciences jobs by 2030, a 25% increase from 2020. Its plan also includes growing biomanufacturing capacity, improving commercialization and getting more Ontario-made health technologies into the healthcare system.

Ontario is also backing smaller life sciences companies. The province recently announced $5 million for 10 Ontario companies through the Life Sciences Innovation Fund, with each company receiving up to $500,000. The funded companies are working in areas such as AI-enabled diagnostics, drug discovery, digital health, precision medicine and advanced biomaterials.

Ontario produces more than 94,000 STEM graduates each year and has nearly 1,800 annual AI master’s enrolments, along with more than 1,100 AI master’s graduates.

AI Investment Is Moving Into Life Sciences Fast 

In April 2026, Microsoft said it would expand its Azure Canada Central data centre region in Ontario. The project is part of Microsoft’s $19 billion commitment to grow cloud and AI infrastructure across Canada from 2023 to 2027. Invest Ontario said the expansion will support 1,000 construction jobs and create 250 jobs once the sites are operating.

Roche Canada announced an investment of more than $95 million ($130 million CAD) in 2024 to build a Global Informatics Hub in Mississauga. The project is expected to create up to 250 jobs in AI, machine learning, computational biology and data analytics.

SK Biopharmaceuticals and Eurofarma also launched Mentis Care, an AI digital health joint venture in Toronto, in 2025. The company is developing epilepsy management tools that combine EEG monitoring with predictive algorithms to help detect warning signs before seizures.

AI spending is not just happening in Ontario.

In April 2026, Boehringer Ingelheim launched a new AI and machine learning centre in London, with plans to invest £150 million (around $200 million) over 10 years. The site will support pharma R&D by helping the company better understand disease biology and identify drug targets with a higher chance of success.

With the launch of REPLIQA, Google is also moving in. In May 2026, it launched a $10 million program with five universities to apply quantum science and AI to life sciences research, including tools that could help study complex molecular interactions involved in drug development.