Mistral AI co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch knows that it isn’t just France but all of Europe that relies on his startup to deliver an alternative to U.S. powerhouses like OpenAI. In its first-ever foreign A.I. infrastructure investment, the Paris-based company is committing 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) to build data centers across Sweden, it announced yesterday (Feb. 11).
“This investment is a concrete step towards building independent capabilities in Europe, dedicated to A.I.,” said Mensch in a statement. The move will focus on expanding advanced compute capacity and localized A.I. capabilities, and is expected to further reinforce the region’s “strategic autonomy and competitiveness,” he added.
Mensch previously worked on large language models and multimodal systems at Google DeepMind before co-founding Mistral in 2023 alongside former Meta researchers Guillaume Lample and Timotheé Lacroix. Best known for its “Le Chat” chatbot, Mistral sits at the center of Europe’s ambition to build sovereign A.I. independent of Silicon Valley.
The new investment will see Mistral partner with EcoDataCenter, a Swedish data center operator. Their collaboration includes building an A.I. data center at EcoDataCenter’s facility in Borlänge, Sweden, expected to open next year and run Mistral’s A.I. models at scale.
“When one of Europe’s leading A.I. companies chooses to establish infrastructure in Europe, it sends a strong signal that Europe can collaborate across borders and European companies can build together,” John Wernvik, EcoDataCenter’s chief external relations and sustainability officer, told Observer via email. He added that Nordic countries such as Sweden are particularly well suited for data centers thanks to their sustainable and affordable energy, as well as deep expertise in digital infrastructure engineering, design and operations.
Other advantages include economic stability, a skilled workforce and a cool climate that reduces cooling costs—and Mensch isn’t the only one to take notice. OpenAI last year unveiled plans to build a data center in Norway as part of its Stargate project, while Microsoft and Google have expanded their data center footprints in countries including Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
Mensch’s push for a local A.I. ecosystem anchored in European infrastructure has won praise from leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron, who last year announced more than $100 billion in private-sector investments for French A.I. initiatives. The effort reflects a broader goal of boosting the European Union’s technological independence, as the bloc currently relies on non-EU nations for more than 80 percent of its digital products, services, infrastructure and intellectual property.
Investors have taken notice as well. Last September, Mistral raised 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion) in a funding round that valued the company at 11.7. billion euros ($14 billion). Investors include Nvidia, Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst. The deal made Mistral the most well-funded European A.I. venture and turned its co-founders into billionaires.
For now, Mistral remains far smaller than U.S. rivals like OpenAI, which is seeking another $100 million in funding, and Anthropic, which is reportedly pursuing a $20 billion round. But the French startup is gaining momentum not just through infrastructure expansion, but also commercial growth. Mistral’s annualized run rate now exceeds $400 million, up from $20 million last year, said Mensch in a recent interview with the Financial Times, where he unveiled plans to surpass $1 billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2026. Both annualized run rate and annual recurring revenue are metrics used to predict revenue.
