I was in Paris in June 2023 when I heard the news that a four-week-old startup called Mistral had raised over $100 million. There are no products. No marketing. And there’s not much information about who they are. Over the next few months, we learned more about Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch, his team, and his ambitions.
What started as a company developing AI models has evolved into one that aims to position itself as Europe’s answer to the US frontier labs OpenAI and Anthropic. Mistral is building data centers and focusing on enterprise deployment of AI across various industries.
“Europe is starting to look at AI as a strategic asset,” Mensch told me on the latest episode of The Tech Download. We had a wide-ranging conversation ranging from the future of agent AI to chips and his views on the current state of the AI market.
CNBC’s Arjun Karpal and Mistral’s Arthur Mensch appear on the Tech Download Podcast
You’ve probably heard the word “agent” or the phrase “agent AI” a lot lately. The basic idea is an AI system that can handle long and complex tasks on your behalf, like a sophisticated digital assistant. Coding is an area where this is really taking off, with products like Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex gaining traction. Mistral’s big agent play is called Vibe, and it’s a combination chatbot and coding tool.
The introduction of Agentic AI can change the structure of an organization. Mensch said companies need to consider which processes can be automated and which processes should always involve humans. Companies need to consider “how to realign all the people involved in that process around the AI system,” Mensch said.
It’s not just about Mistral’s software. The company is also building data centers to power its models and AI. The rationale is that Mistral wants to own more of the “tech stack,” from the models to the computing power on which they run.
These data centers are heavily based on Nvidia chips. But there was a really interesting part in my conversation with Mensch, where he revealed for the first time that Mistral is considering designing its own chip. This is a strategy seen at major US hyperscalers such as Google and Amazon.
Ultimately, Mensch still sees this as an early stage in AI adoption.
“Enterprise adoption is still very sticky, which means there’s still a lot of room for value creation,” Mensch said.
I had fun recording this episode of The Tech Download in Paris, so I hope you enjoy listening to it.
Latest updates
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told the company’s employees on Thursday. ASMLEurope’s most valuable company, highlighting the importance of chip manufacturing to his two main businesses.
OpenAI announced Thursday that it will acquire Ona, a startup that provides a secure, preconfigured cloud environment where artificial intelligence agents can access tools, systems, and context.
Shares of several major freight forwarding companies fell sharply on Wednesday. Amazon announced that it will open up its trucking services to companies beyond its network.
A number of US Big Tech and AI companies are vying to expand in London, hoping to tap into the city’s rich talent pool as they drive the development and commercialization of frontier technologies.
Anthropic says it is ready to make its “Mythos class” AI models available to the public, two months after restricting the deployment of its powerful Mythos models, citing concerns about the system’s cybersecurity capabilities.
