Europe's answer to OpenAI announces billion-dollar AI infrastructure push in Sweden

French AI startup Mistral said on Wednesday it will invest 1.2 billion euros ($1.43 billion) into digital infrastructure in Sweden, including AI data centers.The announcement comes as Europe scrambles to build out the infrastructure needed to power rapidly developing AI tools, as it seeks to build tech sovereignty amid rising geopolitical tensions.The funds will facilitate the development of AI data centers, advanced compute capacity and localized AI capabilities, Mistral said.Founded in 2023, Mistral has emerged as one of Europe's leading AI companies and raised a 1.7 billion euro funding round in September, hitting an 11.7 billion euro valuation. Dutch chip equipment maker ASML contributed 1.3 billion euros to the round.The company also counts big tech giants Nvidia and Microsoft as investors, alongside DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Bpifrance, General Catalyst, and Index Ventures."This investment is a concrete step toward building independent capabilities in Europe, dedicated to AI", said Arthur Mensch, Mistral CEO, in a statement."By delivering a fully vertical offer with locally processed and stored data, we are reinforcing 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 (LLMs), the company has since expanded its offering to the infrastructure needed to power AI. In June, it launched Mistral Compute, which the company says can provide an integrated stack, including graphics processing units (GPUs), application programming interfaces (APIs) and services like fully managed platform-as-a-service.The Nordic countries are considered prime locations for compute facilities in Europe, boasting cooler temperatures and some of the lowest energy costs in the region. In July, OpenAI announced it would launch an AI data center in Norway, as part of its "Stargate" initiative. As part of the investment, Mistral will partner with Swedish company EcoDataCenter to deploy "large-scale" AI compute, marking the French startup's first AI infrastructure investment outside of its home market. The facility is scheduled to open in 2027 and will support the development and operation of Mistral's next-generation AI models.While Mistral is the best-funded LLM-builder in Europe, raising $2.9 billion, according to deal-counting platform Dealroom, it has lagged behind U.S. rivals, which have mammoth private funding rounds.OpenAI is looking to wrap up what could be a $100 billion funding round, sources told CNBC this week, and Anthropic signed a term sheet for a $10 billion funding round in January.Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inboxGet this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.© 2026 Versant Media, LLC.

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