Microsofts Mistral partnership avoids merger probe by British regulators
Summary
The U.K.s Competition and Markets Authority cleared Microsofts artificial intelligence partnership with Mistral of regulatory concerns after previously inviting views on whether the arrangement qualified as a merger. The CMA said in a brief update Friday that the deal "does not qualify for investigation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002." "Investment and partnership are essential to new players in the AI economy," A Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC in an emailed statement. "We welcome the CMAs determination that our fractional investment and partnership with Mistral AI does not qualify as a merger or acquisition." Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. tech giant receives a minority stake in Mistral, while the French company adds its large language models to the U.S. tech giants Azure cloud computing platform.