France's Mistral Built a $14B AI Empire by Not Being American

BETAThis is a BETA experience. opt-out hereInnovationDaily CoverHow France’s Mistral Built A $14 Billion AI Empire By Not Being Americanlevon biss for forbesByIain Martin,Forbes Staff. I'm a senior editor at Forbes and cover tech and venture capital.Follow AuthorApr 16, 2026, 06:30am EDTUpdated Apr 16, 2026, 06:44am EDTParis-based Mistral wanted to develop a top-tier AI model to rival OpenAI and Anthropic. That didn’t work out. But it turns out lots of folks don’t care if the AI is bleeding edge – as long as it wasn’t made in America or China.@font-face{font-family: "Highlander"; src: url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/highlander/highlander-bold.woff2") format("woff2"); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal;} @font-face{font-family: "Merriweather"; src: url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/merriweather/merriweather-bold-webfont.woff2") format("woff2"), url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/merriweather/merriweather-bold-webfont.woff") format("woff"); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal;} @font-face{font-family: "Graphik"; src: url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/graphik/graphik-bold.woff2") format("woff2"), url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/graphik/graphik-bold.woff") format("woff"); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal;} @font-face{font-family: "Highlander"; src: url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/highlander/highlander-regular.woff2") format("woff2"); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;} @font-face{font-family: "Merriweather"; src: url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/merriweather/merriweather-regular-webfont.woff2") format("woff2"), url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/merriweather/merriweather-regular-webfont.woff") format("woff"); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;} @font-face{font-family: "Graphik"; src: url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/graphik/graphik-regular.woff2") format("woff2"), url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/graphik/graphik-regular.woff") format("woff"); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;} #article-num-0 .color-accent{color: #333;} #article-num-0 .bg-accent{background-color: #333;} #article-num-0 .article-body blockquote:not(.quote-embed){color: #333;} #article-num-0 .article-body blockquote:before{background: #333;} #article-num-0 .color-base{color: #ffffff;} #article-num-0 .bg-base{background-color: #ffffff;} #article-num-0 .article-body .finds-embed button{color: #ffffff;} #article-num-0 .color-body{color: #333;} #article-num-0 .color-body-border{border-top-color: rgba(0,3,51, 0.8);border-bottom-color: rgba(0,3,51, 0.8);} .bg-body{background-color: #333;} #article-num-0 .color-link{color: #3B78D8;} #article-num-0 .{background-color: #3B78D8;} #article-num-0 .article-body .finds-embed{background: #3B78D8;} #article-num-0 .font-accent{font-family: Highlander,"Times New Roman",serif;} #article-num-0 .article-body blockquote:not(.quote-embed){font-family: Highlander,"Times New Roman",serif;} #article-num-0 .font-base{font-family: "Merriweather",serif;} #article-num-0 .font-body{font-family: Georgia,Cambria,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;} #article-num-0 .headline-embed.color-accent, #article-num-0 .headline-embed .color-accent{color: #DECAB2;} #article-num-0 .headline-embed.bg-accent, #article-num-0 .headline-embed .bg-accent{background-color: #DECAB2;} #article-num-0 .headline-embed.color-base, #article-num-0 .headline-embed .color-base{color: #171717;} #article-num-0 .headline-embed.bg-base, #article-num-0 .headline-embed .bg-base{background-color:…

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