Paris, France: In a strategic move to challenge US and Chinese AI dominance, NVIDIA has partnered with French startup Mistral AI to deploy 18,000 Grace Blackwell GPUs across sovereign data centers—the cornerstone of Europe’s plan to 10X its AI compute capacity by 2026. Here’s why this changes everything.
🚀 Europe’s AI Power Play: Key Announcements
⚡ 18,000 GPUs for Mistral Compute
The joint “Mistral Compute” cloud will launch in Essonne, France, with expansion across Europe—powered entirely by NVIDIA’s latest Grace Blackwell chips.
🏭 20+ AI “Gigafactories” Planned
Each facility may cost up to $50 billion, matching the EU’s €20B commitment for five 100,000-GPU training clusters.
🇪🇺 Sovereign AI Strategy
French President Macron endorsed the deal, urging companies to “keep data local“—a direct challenge to US cloud providers.
“The only thing missing is infrastructure. And we’re building it now.”— NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang at VivaTech
🔧 Technical Breakdown: What’s Being Built
Mistral Compute Infrastructure
| Location | Essonne, France (First Phase) |
| Hardware | 18,000 NVIDIA Grace Blackwell GPUs |
| Capacity | >1 Gigawatt power infrastructure |
| Goal | Train next-gen Mistral models + host sovereign AI clouds |
Europe-Wide AI Factories
- Germany: 10,000-GPU Industrial AI Cloud for automotive simulations
- UK/Italy: Partnerships with Nebius Group and local governments
- EU-Wide: 7,000 startups accessing GPUs via NVIDIA Inception
🌍 Why This Matters for Global AI
1. Breaks US Compute Monopoly
Europe’s chronic GPU shortage—where researchers waited 6+ months for cloud access—will ease dramatically.
2. French-Led AI Sovereignty
Mistral’s partnership ensures European models train on local data, avoiding US cloud export restrictions.
3. Automotive & Robotics Boost
Mercedes, Volvo, and Jaguar already use NVIDIA Drive—now with faster EU-based training.
📈 Strategic Implications
For Businesses:
- Localize AI workloads to comply with upcoming EU data laws
- Apply for NVIDIA Inception to access subsidized GPU time
- Monitor Mistral’s open models—they’ll gain first-mover advantage on this infrastructure
