Microsoft and Mistral strike multibillion-dollar deal for European AI infrastructure
Microsoft has agreed to spend billions of dollars on Mistral's computing infrastructure in Europe, and will expand distribution of Mistral's technology through Azure. The deal gives Azure customers access to Mistral's data centres in France, offering regulated industries an alternative to US-controlled infrastructure. Mistral's Medium 3.5 and OCR 4 models are now available in Microsoft's Foundry and Copilot Studio, and Azure Local customers can run Mistral's open models.
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Microsoft has agreed to spend billions of dollars on Mistral’s computing infrastructure in Europe under a deal that will also expand distribution of the French AI startup’s technology through the UScloud and software giant, the companies said on Tuesday. As part of the agreement, Microsoft Azure customers will be able to develop software using Mistral’s data centres in France, giving Microsoft more capacity in Europe and regulated industries an alternative to US-controlled infrastructure. Watch moreWhy Anthropic's most powerful AI models are back online Mistral, meanwhile, has added its AI models called Medium 3.5 and OCR 4 to Microsoft’s app builder known as Foundry. Microsoft Copilot Studio has brought on Medium 3.5 as well. Finally, businesses with independent data centres that access Microsoft services via Azure Local will have the option to run Mistral’s “open” models, which give customers license to develop AI as their own. The deal underscores growing interest in Europe an