Canadian AI lab Cohere has acquired German AI company Aleph Alpha, in a bid to meet rising demand for sovereign AI systems.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, though the companies said the alliance (which will operate under the Cohere name) will combine Cohere’s AI scale with Aleph Alpha’s “strong research excellence” and network.
“The initiative reflects a shared vision: to provide the world with an independent, enterprise-grade sovereign alternative in an era of growing AI concentration,” the companies said in a release.
The development comes as concerns about AI sovereignty are on the rise, with increased scrutiny over the market dominance of both U.S. and Chinese AI giants.
By joining forces, the partners are targeting customers seeking independence from this concentration of AI technology in the U.S. and China and prioritizing regional control. Engineering talent and computational resources from the two regions will also be pooled under the deal to accelerate the development of next-generation frontier models and systems.
“Organizations globally are demanding uncompromising control over their AI stack,” Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez said in a statement. “This transatlantic partnership unlocks the massive scale, robust infrastructure, and world-class R&D talent required to meet that demand.”
“We are building a real counterweight for organizations that refuse to outsource control over their AI to a single provider or jurisdiction,” Ilhan Scheer, co-CEO of Aleph Alpha, said in a statement. “[We are] giving European institutions and enterprises access to powerful, yet controllable AI they can truly own.”
In particular, the new entity is aimed at providing AI systems tailored for highly regulated sectors such as finance, defense, energy, manufacturing, telecommunications and healthcare.
Backing the initiative financially is Schwarz Group, which plans to lead Cohere’s upcoming Series E round with a $600 million structured financing commitment.
The investment will also strengthen ties with Schwarz Group’s cloud platform, STACKIT, which is expected to serve as a key infrastructure layer for sovereign AI deployments in Europe.
Founded in 2019, Cohere previously raised $1.6 billion from investors including Nvidia and AMD.