u/dlafont

Microsoft has entered a multi-year, multi-billion dollar agreement withMistral AI to significantly expand its computing infrastructure in Europe.

Under this agreement, Microsoft will utilize Mistral's data centers—primarily located in France—to offer Azure cloud customers a European-based alternative for AI computing. This development is supposed to be beneficial for organizations in strictly regulated sectors, such as manufacturing and healthcare, as it enables them to deploy AI applications locally while ensuring strict compliance with European data residency and privacy regulations.

The partnership also deepens the software integration between the two companies. Mistral's Medium 3.5 and OCR 4 models are being added to Microsoft Azure's Foundry, allowing developers to build and customize AI applications directly within managed Azure environments. Additionally, Mistral Medium 3.5 will be available on Copilot Studio. Microsoft will not be increasing its equity stake in the startup through this specific transaction.

IMHO, this contract represents a major milestone for Mistral, firmly positioning the company as a leading cloud compute provider in Europe. Mistral started the year with €400 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), and driven by this new deal, the company projects its revenues (ARR) will surpass €1 billion in 2026.

Mistral successfully raised $830 million in debt financing earlier this year from a consortium of banks to construct new data centers in the Paris region and in Sweden. The company has already secured 200 megawatts of computing power and has set a goal to reach 1 gigawatt of capacity by 2030.

I think this agreement highlights a highly positive momentum for the European tech ecosystem, establishing robust sovereign AI infrastructure while enabling Mistral to compete effectively on a global scale. But I'm French, so, I'm biaised :).

WDYT?

The european cloud provider Scaleway is deploying the AI inference chips from VSORA with a software layer from open source company ZML, a EU alternative to CUDA architecture.

Just came back from a watch fair in Bordeaux and discovered this brand. Watches are beautiful, and one of the few 100% made in France. Do you know others watch brands 100% made in Europe (case, dial, movement), Switzerland excluded?

A bit old but not yet posted. Any thought?