OVHcloud Challenges OpenAI and Mistral with Its Entry into AI in Paris

OVHcloud Launches into Artificial Intelligence

The rise of artificial intelligence has not gone unnoticed by OVHcloud, which now aims to establish itself not only as the European leader in cloud services but also as a key player in the field of AI. This ambition marks a strategic turning point for the French company, which is determined to carve out a place alongside international giants.

A Strategic Announcement at Vivatech

It was during the Vivatech conference, currently taking place in Paris, that OVHcloud unveiled its ambitions in artificial intelligence. Octave Klaba, the head of the company, clearly expressed his intention to compete with major players like Mistral, OpenAI, and other leaders in the global market.

OVHcloud Aligns with AI Giants

Drawing inspiration from the journeys of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Mistral, OVHcloud, already recognized for its web hosting services, is resolutely turning towards artificial intelligence. This direction is not coincidental but the result of careful preparation undertaken in recent months by Octave Klaba, who took the reins of the company at the end of last year.

• At the beginning of the year, OVHcloud acquired Seald, a French company specializing in end-to-end encryption.

• Subsequently, the company purchased Dragon LLM, another French firm expert in generative and sovereign AI models.

• More recently, OVHcloud has entered exclusive discussions to acquire Gladia, a French startup focused on voice AI.

These strategic acquisitions underscore OVHcloud's commitment to developing a range of AI models capable of meeting various needs, an approach already adopted by companies like Anthropic and OpenAI.

A Favorable Economic Context

The timing of OVHcloud's foray into AI is not coincidental. Technological advancements in chip design, learning techniques, and synthetic data have significantly reduced the costs of developing these models. "A project that would have previously required an investment of around one billion euros can now be realized for a budget of 150 to 200 million euros," Octave Klaba noted during his speech at Vivatech, as reported by Reuters.

Open Source: A Future Perspective

Octave Klaba does not rule out making some of these models open source in the future. "We will assess when we are advanced enough to open source them. But that is indeed the idea," he shared. This approach could allow OVHcloud to strengthen its position in the market while contributing to the AI ecosystem.