Observed Signal · Apr 9, 2025 · Partnership · Source: Tech.eu · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Europe's Answer to DeepSeek: Open Models and Shared Infrastructure
This article examines Europe's response to DeepSeek, focusing on open-source models, shared infrastructure, and the potential of small language models (SLMs). It highlights the OpenEuroLLM project, a consortium of 20 European research institutions and EuroHPC centres, and features perspectives from Iris.ai CEO Anita Schjøll Abildgaard and CTO Victor Botev. They argue that Europe should prioritize SLMs for efficiency, cost savings, and sustainability. Iris.ai's partnership with Sigma2 for high-performance computing is noted, as is Malted AI's model distillation technology. The piece concludes that Europe's AI future may lie in specialized, open, and sustainable models rather than scale.
Discusses Europe's AI strategy, open-source models, and SLMs, which could influence AI infrastructure and model availability for businesses across Europe, including AdTech.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- OpenEuroLLM is a consortium of 20 European research institutions, companies, and EuroHPC centres.
- Iris.ai has partnered with Sigma2 to train and domain-adapt small models (1-9B parameters).
- Malted AI distills outputs from large models into smaller ones for domain-specific tasks, achieving 10-100x cost savings.
- Italy banned DeepSeek due to security concerns, while other governments restricted its use.
- Europe's data centre power demand is projected to triple by 2030.
Connected Companies & Entities
5 Entities mapped“The launch of DeepSeek in February sparked discussions about Europe's position in the AI race....”
“Mistral AI (France) and Aleph Alpha (Germany) were most often mentioned as potential European competitors....”
“Mistral AI (France) and Aleph Alpha (Germany) were most often mentioned as potential European competitors....”
“OpenEuroLLM is co-led by Peter Sarlin (AMD Silo AI, Finland)....”
“OpenEuroLLM is co-led by Peter Sarlin (AMD Silo AI, Finland)....”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Ecosia Drops Mistral for Chinese Open-Source AI
European search engine Ecosia has switched its AI supplier from French startup Mistral to open models, including Chinese ones like Alibaba's Qwen, Z.ai's GLM, and Moonshot AI's Kimi. CEO Christian Kroll cited disappointment with Mistral's model quality, which he says lags about a year behind competitors, and frequent server overloads. Ecosia now uses models via German platform Melious, which runs open AI models on EU servers, halving AI service costs while improving performance. The switch comes as Mistral released Large 4, its most powerful model yet, trained in Europe with open weights due in October. Despite scoring 38.4 on the Intelligence Index, it ranks eighth among open models, behind seven Chinese models. The case highlights the European AI sovereignty dilemma: top-tier open models are predominantly Chinese, even when run on European servers. Mistral itself hosts Chinese models like GLM on its neocloud platform, while its CEO Arthur Mensch defends Large 4's capabilities in areas like cyber defense.
Ecosia Switches from Mistral to Chinese AI Models
Berlin-based search engine Ecosia has dropped French AI provider Mistral and switched to open-weight models, including Chinese ones like Qwen (Alibaba), GLM (Z.ai), and Kimi (Moonshot AI), as reported by Politico. Ecosia CEO Christian Kroll was reportedly disappointed with Mistral's model quality, saying they lag behind competitors by about a year, and also questioned Mistral's sovereignty due to its reliance on international investors. Ecosia now sources models via Melious, a German platform running open AI models on European servers, cutting AI costs by half while improving performance. Mistral, meanwhile, released Large 4, a trillion-parameter model trained in European data centers, which ranks eighth among open models, with all top seven being Chinese. This highlights Europe's AI sovereignty dilemma: top open models are mostly Chinese, even as Mistral itself now hosts Chinese models like GLM on its neocloud.
Microsoft Unveils Hybrid Intelligence, Open-Weight AI, RTX Hardware
Microsoft is repositioning Windows as a platform for 'hybrid intelligence,' enabling AI agents to run locally on PCs or in the cloud. The company announced the general availability of Microsoft Execution Containers (MXC), which sandbox agent execution and control access to files and networks, with support from Codex, GitHub Copilot, OpenClaw, and others. New AI models, including Microsoft's MAI Code 1.1 Flash, Nvidia's Nemotron, and DeepSeek V4 Flash, will run locally on RTX Spark devices, including the Surface Laptop Ultra (available for pre-order at $2,599). Copilot is gaining access to local files and system actions on Copilot+ PCs, rolling out in the coming months. Microsoft is diversifying its AI partnerships beyond OpenAI, building its own models, and aiming to regain trust after past missteps by emphasizing security and on-device processing.
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