Love it as a consumer because Mistral is probably not doing any more open weights if they get tangled with Microsoft. But man, as a business owner in EU, this would just make me not want to build an AI startup in EU
> But man, as a business owner in EU, this would just make me not want to build an AI startup in EU Like, purely on the basis that MS might not be allowed to take you over? TBH I'd assume the FTC would at least be asking questions here, too. EC and FTC thinking on competition is generally not all _that_ different, but the EC tends to be quicker to act these days (this was not always the case; the FTC was very much ou…
Mistral isn't exactly some decade-long state funded national champion. Its a 1 year old startup whose core staff all come from American tech companies. With 0 revenue and minimal market share, there's like no conceivable metric in traditional antitrust theory to block this. Yet the EU prevents it from taking foreign investment all the same.
Look at TSMC in comparison. It IS the national champion of Taiwan, yet its majority foreign owned, doesn't stop it from underpinning the Taiwan economy and spawning massive ecosystems in its local areas.. Taiwan's government understands its place in the international economy, so prefers to cooperate and trust its international partners.