Microsoft strikes 'multi-billion dollar' deal for Mistral's AI computing power

PARIS (AFP) -- Microsoft and Mistral said Tuesday they had signed a “multibillion dollar” deal for the US tech giant to use the French AI developer’s computing infrastructure in Europe.

The agreement would grant Microsoft access to “Europe-based GPU (graphics processing unit) infrastructure to increase capacity for AI development and to support the delivery of Microsoft’s cloud and AI services,” the companies said in a joint statement.

They did not specify the exact value of the deal or the amount of computing power involved.

Multiple major generative AI developers have begun selling computing power to others as the industry expands and high-end chips grow scarce.

For instance, Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI struck a deal with Anthropic in May.

The AI lab behind the Claude chatbot is also in talks for a deal worth billions to use infrastructure belonging to Facebook and Instagram parent Meta, according to media reports.

Mistral’s AI models, including programming assistant Mistral Medium 3.5 and text-recognition system OCR 4, would also be made available to Microsoft clients, the companies said Tuesday.

Clients could run the Mistral models on Microsoft’s cloud computing infrastructure or their own local hardware, the American company said, acknowledging the continent’s growing concerns about dependence on US tech firms in a time of transatlantic discord.

“Europe should have access to the world’s most capable AI without compromising control over their data, operations or digital future,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in the statement.

The company has sought to position itself as the cloud computing provider most compatible with European tech sovereignty concerns.

Mistral said in February that it would invest 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) to build data centers in Sweden, its first such project outside France.