Summary
On July 21, 2026 Microsoft and Mistral expanded their strategic partnership, making Mistral Medium 3.5 and OCR 4 available in Microsoft Foundry, adding Mistral Medium 3.5 to Copilot Studio, and supporting deployment across cloud, cloud-connected, and fully disconnected sovereign environments. Microsoft also committed a multibillion-dollar investment to expand European AI infrastructure using Mistral GPU capacity on NVIDIA Vera Rubin systems.
What changed
Microsoft and Mistral broadened their partnership so Mistral Medium 3.5 and OCR 4 run in Microsoft Foundry and Copilot Studio, with deployment options spanning cloud to fully disconnected environments and a new multibillion-dollar European infrastructure commitment.
Why it matters
The deal gives enterprises and regulated industries a frontier alternative to first-party OpenAI models inside Microsoft's own tooling, with sovereign and fully disconnected deployment that matters for European data-control requirements. It deepens Microsoft's multi-model hedge and hands Mistral distribution through the platforms enterprises already run on.
Evidence excerpt
Mistral Medium 3.5 and OCR 4 are now available in Microsoft Foundry; Mistral Medium 3.5 is integrated into Copilot Studio; both support deployment across cloud, cloud-connected, and fully disconnected environments. Brad Smith: 'Europe should have access to the world's most capable AI without compromising control over their data, operations or digital future.'