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Yeah, Canon is the major exception. Because of that their sensors are always at least one step behind everyone else’s.
I remember reading somewhere that Canon does this on purpose. For example, Sony cameras are known to have overheating problems that Canon doesn’t have, because they value reliability more than being on the cutting edge.
The other main reason is that upgrading the tooling for sensor fabrication is super super expensive, and Canon has historically used the high-volume entry level camera market to subsidize this, while sony uses their smarphone business to subsidize it. Canons entry level camera market is tanking just like everyone elses which probably made them weary of such investments in the past few years (till Sony came and stole their lunch). It seems like they've decided to go for the high end high-profit segment. I'm super interested to see what kind of sensor there is in the R5. They're probably not at A9 read-speeds quite yet, but it will be interesting to see how close they've gotten.
That is entirely false. Nikon actually designs their own sensors. They don't call up Sony and order a bunch of sensors. More info here:

https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2018/07/17/pixels-for-...

Cool, I appreciate the link. The truth is unclear because there is physical evidence suggesting the contrary. For example, the Nikon D850 is referred to in your link, yet here are teardowns which confirm the sensor wears a Sony part number.[1][2]

And it seems well supported that, historically, many Nikon cameras have Sony model numbers on their sensors.[3][4]

Based on all this, the easiest explanation (and fairly consistent what both of us have shared) might be that Nikon does the design and or specification, and then Sony fabricates. The bar to fabrication is much higher than the bar to design, from what I understand, though I do not work in semiconductors.

[1] http://astrocn.org/thread-3189-1-1.html

[2] https://nikonrumors.com/2018/06/15/new-reports-indicate-that...

[3] https://nikonrumors.com/2015/12/16/list-of-all-nikon-dslr-ca...

[4] https://radojuva.com/2015/11/sensor-nikon-matrix/

Thanks for the links. Having a part number on something is frankly meaningless unless the inside story is presented (as is done in the link that I mentioned, even though there is an element of promotion from Nikon). I don't know if you're familiar with Imaging Resource and Dave Etchells but they are hardcore geeks who have been reporting objectively on cameras for over two decades. They stay clear of the usual click-bait that camera gear websites have become. I've gone down this rabbit-hole when I was researching imaging sensor tech a few months ago, and that is why its fresh on my mind. I too don't work in semiconductors, I work in biotech. If you care to learn more about this, IISW workshops are a great resource.