# Mistral Releases Le Chonk, a 1 Trillion Parameter Open Weight Model

> Mistral AI launches free 1.05 trillion parameter model for developers.
- Title: Mistral Releases Le Chonk, a 1 Trillion Parameter Open Weight…
- Summary: Mistral AI launches free 1.05 trillion parameter model for developers. Mistral AI released a 1.05 trillion parameter open-weight model called Le Chonk…
- Keywords: mistral, le chonk, open weights, 1 trillion parameter, ai model, microsoft, gpu, startups, business, Releases, Chonk, Trillion
- Source: Startup Fortune — https://startupfortune.com/mistral-releases-le-chonk-a-1-trillion-parameter-open-weight-model
- Published: 2026-10-14T21:34:23+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: mistral, le chonk, open weights, 1 trillion parameter, ai model, microsoft, gpu, startups, business
## Mistral Large 4 launches
Mistral AI unveiled Mistral Large 4 with 1.05 trillion parameters on October 6.
## Free open weights release
The full open weights go out free in two weeks, October 31.
## Le Chonk nickname origin
Fans called the model 'Le Chaton Fat' on Reddit and X in June, which Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch joked was 'le gros chaton'.
## Model specs and pricing
Mistral Large 4 has a 1.6-billion-parameter vision encoder, one-million-token context window, and costs $1.36 per million input tokens.
## API pricing comparison
GPT-5.5 lists at $5.00 per million input tokens and $30.00 per million output, versus Large 4's $1.36 and $4.18.
## Open weights advantage
Mistral ships open weights for European data sovereignty, unlike US-controlled competitors.
## Competitive positioning
Mistral positions Large 4 for programming and cybersecurity, not hard reasoning benchmarks.
## Key takeaway

Mistral AI released a 1.05 trillion parameter open-weight model called Le Chonk, available for free in two weeks.