Microsoft to fund Mistral's European AI expansion in multibillion-dollar deal

The deal underscores growing interest in Europe and elsewhere to reduce dependence on U.S. technology so other countries may have greater say in their future society and economy. It may also help Microsoft meet rising demand for open models.

Though the push for "sovereign" AI is now years old, a U.S. decision last month to pause foreign access to two advanced models from San Francisco-based Anthropic has made technology independence a more urgent issue in Europe.

In a joint interview with Reuters, Microsoft President Brad Smith and Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch said the partnership aimed to deliver such sovereignty while allowing access to U.S. software and security features.

"By putting Mistral's models on Azure Local and on Mistral's computational capacity, we can combine American and European technology and do it in a way that provides continuous and assured access," Smith said.