French AI startup Mistral announced on Wednesday that it would invest 1.2 billion euros ($1.43 billion) in digital infrastructure in Sweden, including AI data centers.
The announcement comes as Europe works to build the infrastructure needed to power rapidly developing AI tools, as it seeks to strengthen its technological sovereignty amid growing geopolitical tensions.
The funds will facilitate the development of AI data centers, advanced computing capabilities and localized AI capabilities, Mistral said.
Founded in 2023, Mistral has established itself as one of the leading European AI companies and raised a funding round of 1.7 billion euros in September, reaching a valuation of 11.7 billion euros. Dutch chip equipment manufacturer ASML contributed 1.3 billion euros to the cycle.
The company also has major tech giants Nvidia And Microsoft as investors, alongside DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Bpifrance, General Catalyst and Index Ventures.
“This investment is a concrete step towards building independent capabilities in Europe, dedicated to AI,” said Arthur Mensch, CEO of Mistral, in a statement.
“By offering a fully vertical offering with data processed and stored locally, we are strengthening Europe’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness,” he added. “This lays the foundation for a European AI cloud that can serve industries, public institutions and researchers at scale.”
Initially focused on building large language models (LLM), the company has since expanded its offering to the infrastructure needed to power AI.
In June, the company launched Mistral Compute, which the company says can provide an integrated stack including graphics processing units (GPUs), application programming interfaces (APIs), and services such as a fully managed platform-as-a-service.
The Nordic countries are considered prime locations for IT installations in Europe, benefiting from cooler temperatures and some of the lowest energy costs in the region.
In July, OpenAI announced the launch of a AI data center in Norwayas part of its “Stargate” initiative.
As part of this investment, Mistral will partner with Swedish company EcoDataCenter to deploy “at scale” AI computing, marking the French startup’s first investment in AI infrastructure outside its home market.
The facility is expected to open in 2027 and will support the development and operation of Mistral’s next-generation AI models.
Although Mistral is Europe’s best-funded LLM builder, with $2.9 billion raised, according to deal-counting platform Dealroom, it lags behind its U.S. rivals, which are leading huge private funding rounds.
OpenAI seeks to conclude what could be a A round of funding of 100 billion dollarssources told CNBC this week, and Anthropic signed a term sheet for a $10 billion funding round in January.