Mistral AI borrows 830 million dollars to operate a new data center near Paris

Mistral AI has taken out a loan of 830 million dollars. The money will fund the operation of a new data center near Paris in Bruyeres-le-Chatel. The deal lets Mistral avoid giving up any company shares, but it also saddles the startup with significant debt, a risk for both the company and the banks backing the loan, especially given that Mistral is unlikely to be profitable anytime soon.

The new facility will be equipped with 13,800 NVIDIA Grace Blackwell GB300 GPUs and deliver 44 megawatts of output capacity. A consortium of global banks is backing the loan, including Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC, La Banque Postale, MUFG, and Natixis.

By the end of 2027, the French AI company plans to provide 200 megawatts of computing capacity across Europe to meet demand from governments and businesses looking to build their own AI systems. Mistral is the only European frontier AI startup positioned to benefit from growing concerns across the continent about technological dependence on the US.