Mistral AI raises $830M in debt to set up a data center near Paris

Mistral AI, a prominent French artificial intelligence lab, has successfully secured $830 million in debt financing to establish a new data center located near Paris. This facility will be equipped with advanced Nvidia chips, according to reports from major news outlets like Reuters and CNBC. The initiative to set up the data center was first unveiled last year, with CEO Arthur Mensch indicating plans to explore various financing opportunities by February 2025. The construction of the data center in Bruyeres-le-Chatel is projected to be completed and operational by the second quarter of 2026, as reported on Monday. In addition to this significant investment, Mistral recently announced a separate plan to invest $1.4 billion in Sweden to enhance its AI infrastructure, which includes the development of additional data centers. The company aims to deliver an impressive 200 megawatts of computing power across Europe by 2027. Mensch emphasized the importance of expanding their European infrastructure, stating, "Scaling our infrastructure in Europe is critical to empower our customers and to ensure AI innovation and autonomy remain at the heart of Europe. We will continue to invest in this area, given the surging and sustained demand from governments, enterprises, and research institutions seeking to build their own customized AI environment, rather than depend on third-party cloud providers." To date, Mistral AI has raised over €2.8 billion (approximately $3.1 billion) from various investors, including notable firms such as General Catalyst, ASML, a16z, Lightspeed, and DST Global, according to Crunchbase data.