French AI research company Mistral AI has secured $830 million in debt financing to construct a new data center near Paris, which will utilize Nvidia hardware, as reported by Reuters and CNBC.

Mistral initially revealed its intention to build a data center last year, with CEO Arthur Mensch stating in February 2025 that the company would evaluate various funding avenues. According to Reuters' Monday report, the facility in Bruyeres-le-Chatel is scheduled for completion and is expected to become operational in the second quarter of 2026. Mistral has not yet responded to requests for confirmation.

This development follows last month's announcement of a $1.4 billion investment in Sweden to develop AI infrastructure, including data centers. The company has set a goal of deploying 200 megawatts of computing capacity throughout Europe by 2027.

In a statement provided to CNBC, Mensch emphasized the strategic importance of this expansion: "Scaling our infrastructure in Europe is critical to empower our customers and to ensure AI innovation and autonomy remain at the heart of Europe. We will continue to invest in this area, given the surging and sustained demand from governments, enterprises, and research institutions seeking to build their own customized AI environment, rather than depend on third-party cloud providers."

To date, Mistral has raised more than €2.8 billion (approximately $3.1 billion) from a consortium of investors that includes General Catalyst, ASML, a16z, Lightspeed, and DST Global, according to Crunchbase data.