French AI startup Mistral released a series of new models on Tuesday, aiming to catch up with global leading AI labs such as Google, OpenAI, and DeepSeek. This release follows recent model updates from DeepSeek and Google, highlighting the intense competition among global AI labs in both research and commercial operations. Mistral introduced a large model, claiming it to be "the best open-weight multimodal and multilingual model in the world." In addition, the company also launched a small model suitable for robots, devices, and drones.

Mistral was founded in 2023 and has become one of Europe's leading AI companies, completing a 1.7 billion euro funding round in September, with ASML, a Dutch chip equipment manufacturer, contributing 1.3 billion euros, and Nvidia also participating. This funding round brought Mistral's valuation to 11.7 billion euros. In a statement, Mistral said: "Mistral 3 sets a new standard for the availability of global AI and unlocks new possibilities for enterprises." The new model can provide broader AI capabilities for applications in robots, drones, and small devices, while supporting applications that do not require network connections.

Mistral's new large model features powerful intelligent agent capabilities, suitable for AI assistants, retrieval-enhanced systems, scientific workloads, and complex enterprise workflows. At the same time, the smaller model named Ministral 3 can run on drones, cars, robots, phones, and laptops. Mistral stated that the small model has many advantages in real-world applications, including lower inference costs, reduced latency, and performance optimization for specific fields. The model can run on a single graphics processing unit (GPU), reducing operating costs and accelerating iteration speed.

Mistral's new release comes at a time when the company is looking to increase its commercial activities to justify its 12 billion euro valuation. In addition to signing an agreement with HSBC to provide models for financial analysis and translation tasks, Mistral has also signed multi-billion-dollar contracts with several companies. As growth accelerates, Mistral is increasingly considering mergers and acquisitions. Despite being a leader in the European AI field, Mistral's financial strength still lags behind its American competitors, with companies like Anthropic and OpenAI recently establishing new offices in Europe and securing large-scale funding.

Key Points:

🌍 Mistral releases new models, aiming to compete with Google and OpenAI, showcasing the intense competition in the AI field.  

💡 The new models support various applications, including robots, drones, and enterprise workflows, with powerful intelligent agent capabilities.  

🤝 Mistral has reached a partnership with HSBC and signed multiple corporate contracts, committed to accelerating commercialization.