Trans-Atlantic tensions are boosting demand in Europe for homegrown artificial-intelligence tools, helping the continent’s most prominent AI developer finance its efforts to keep up with global rivals. European companies and governments increasingly want AI tools that aren’t dependent on American tech behemoths, Arthur Mensch, chief executive of France’s Mistral AI, said in an interview Wednesday. The trend is accelerating the adoption of Mistral’s AI models, putting the company on pace to earn revenue of more than $100 million a year, Mensch said. Mistral now plans to lean into that demand by building its own 40-megawatt AI data center, powered by 18,000 cutting-edge Nvidia chips, some 20 miles south of Paris, Mensch said. It plans to expand to 100 megawatts in the next year and a half. A big goal of the data center is to give European customers a way to tap in to Mistral’s AI products without any dependence on the U.S. Vice President JD Vance raised anxiety here in February when he said the U.S. was winning the race to build the best AI-training chips and AI algorithms, and intended “to keep it that way.” “It tremendously affected our demand because European leaders just don’t want to be talked to that way,” Mensch said of Vance’s statement. Mensch said that using American companies’ AI gives the U.S. leverage over Europe, which the region is trying to reduce.

Full story : Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch says European companies and governments increasingly want non-US AI tools, and Mistral is on track to pass $100M in annual revenue.