Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch
New Delhi: For many years, Europe has watched its best AI researchers migrate to the United States. India has faced the same challenge: the ongoing exodus of top engineering and computer science talent to Silicon Valley.
Reversing this flow is key in the global AI race, says Arthur Mensch, co-founder and CEO of French AI startup Mistral. “Like Europe, India has been hemorrhaging talent for the US,” Mensh said in an interview with TOI. “The more talent you retain and create local value, the better.” Mistral AI was founded in 2023 by Mensch, Guillaume Lampel, and Timothée Lacroix, to challenge the arcane and closed nature of “big AI” and make frontier models more accessible through open architectures.
In just three years, the company has expanded rapidly – reaching a revenue run rate of $400 million and targeting revenues of over $1 billion soon. Last year, its value reached $14 billion. But for Mensch, the AI race is not just commercial. It is structural and geopolitical. With Europe relying heavily on digital infrastructure abroad, especially hyperscalers in the US, Mistral has chosen to build its own capabilities.
He said: “We are not positioning ourselves as a sovereign alternative. Rather, we are positioning ourselves as a global competitor in the artificial intelligence race.” “But tactically, to have a capability that you fully control, you need infrastructure — the servers that run the technology.
“ About 60% of Mistral’s business comes from Europe and 40% from the rest of the world. Some customers choose its platform specifically because it can be deployed on their own infrastructure, reducing reliance on superior scaling tools. He believes that sovereign AI is a strategic and political necessity. As artificial intelligence begins to run large parts of the global economy, governments and defense systems cannot risk outside control. For companies, over-reliance weakens bargaining power and continuity. India, which has one of the world’s largest developer parks, has a similar inflection point. “We have brought many European researchers back to Europe. India has a unique opportunity to do the same.
Universities here produce excellent talent in the field of artificial intelligence and computer science. “The focus should be on ensuring innovation and building value here,” Mensch said. Mistral is currently building business partnerships in India, with a local technology center a possible next step. While competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic are exploring IPO paths, Mensch said a listing is “on the way.” Profitability and global scale will be key requirements. Much of enterprise AI adoption has faltered because companies have treated GenAI as a set of tools rather than a platform shift, Mensch says. Early deployments of chatbots focused on small productivity gains. “This does not change the final result,” he said. Instead, Mistral focuses on high-ROI use cases that address key sources of business friction. Open source is the core of its strategy. “If you have access to the model parameters, you can deploy wherever you want — including on-premises infrastructure,” Mensch said. Open forms also allow for customization. “Running a business should not mean over-reliance on a single service provider. I have said it many times – Europe cannot become an AI colony of the United States.”
