France’s Mistral raises $830 million in debt for AI data centre build-up

Europe’s leading ​AI provider Mistral has raised $830 million in new ‌debt to buy 13,800 Nvidia chips for ​a major data centre near ⁠Paris, the firm told Reuters, as Europe races to scale AI infrastructure to compete with the U.S. and ‌China.

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The deal, set to be announced on Monday (March 30, 2026), marks Mistral’s first debt ‌raising and underscores growing investor confidence in ‌European ⁠AI firms as they seek to ⁠challenge the dominance of U.S. tech giants like Microsoft, Google and Amazon in cloud computing and AI services.

Mistral’s ​debt raising was ‌financed by a consortium of seven banks, including BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB , HSBC and MUFG, it said. The data centre in ‌Bruyeres-le-Chatel is expected to become operational in ​the second quarter of 2026.

Mistral selected the site for its first ⁠data centre in February 2025. Last month, the company unveiled plans for a second facility in ‌Sweden and said it would seek to secure 200 megawatts of capacity across Europe by the end of 2027.

“Scaling our infrastructure in Europe is critical to empower our customers and to ensure AI innovation ‌and autonomy remain at the heart of Europe,” Chief ​Executive Arthur Mensch said in a statement shared with Reuters.

The Paris-based startup, which ⁠provides AI models to the French armed forces, ⁠has positioned itself as a European alternative to U.S. AI leaders, offering both ‌models and infrastructure services to governments and enterprises seeking greater technological independence.