Mistral AI strikes multibillion-dollar deal with Microsoft to expand Azure in Europe

French startup Mistral AI — one of Europe's leading AI developers, known for its open-weight large language models and seen as the continent's main alternative to OpenAI — has announced a multibillion-dollar partnership with Microsoft to expand computing infrastructure across Europe (no specific figure was disclosed). The deal integrates Mistral's models into the Azure Foundry service and gives Azure customers access to the startup's France-based data centers. Two models are being added to Foundry — Mistral Medium 3.5 (open weights) and OCR 4 for document processing — with deployment options including Azure Local environments to meet data residency requirements. Microsoft President Brad Smith said the deal combines American and European technology. The partnership aligns with Europe's push for "sovereign AI."