ASML invests 1.5 billion in Mistral AI to defend Europe's AI sovereignty.

Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML (ASML) led a $1.5 billion funding round for French startup Mistral AI, becoming the largest shareholder of Mistral AI and gaining a seat on the board. This deal also boosted Mistral's valuation to around $11.7 billion, making it the most valuable AI company in Europe.

The so-called French AI startup unicorn Mistral AI

Founded in 2023 by Arthur Mensch, a former Google DeepMind researcher, along with two former Meta researchers, Timothée Lacroix and Guillaume Lample, Mistral AI is seen as the leader of generative AI in Europe, carrying a valuation of $6.2 billion by 2025, backed by tech giants such as NVIDIA (, Microsoft ), and a16z.

Mistral primarily promotes open-source models such as Mistral Medium 3 and Magistral, which align perfectly with the European Union's emphasis on “data sovereignty” and “AI ethics,” making it the top choice for enterprises and governments looking to implement AI, and it has also received support from the French government.

The model launched by Mistral not only outperforms Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 3.7 by nearly 90% in terms of performance, but also holds a 5% market share in the US LLM market. In July of this year, Mistral's revenue has surpassed 100 million dollars.

From left to right: Guillaume Lample, Arthur Mensch, Timothée Lacroix, the strategic significance of ASML's collaboration with Mistral.

ASML is the only semiconductor manufacturer in the world that can provide extreme ultraviolet ( EUV ) lithography machines, and its technology supports chip production for advanced processes such as 5 nanometer and 3 nanometer. TSMC (, Samsung ), and Intel ( are all its customers.

The price of a single EUV device from ASML is about 180 million USD, making it an indispensable tool for producing advanced chips. ASML itself also relies on AI technology to enhance equipment performance, and through collaboration with Mistral, there is potential to benefit in data analysis, tool performance optimization, and even new product development in the future.

The image shows ASML's extreme ultraviolet )EUV( lithography machine valued at approximately 180 million USD. ASML led a $1.5 billion investment, becoming the largest shareholder.

According to foreign media reports, Mistral's latest fundraising totals approximately $2 billion, with ASML's investment reaching as high as $1.5 billion. After the transaction is completed, ASML will also obtain a seat on Mistral's board.

ASML declined to comment on this, while Mistral did not respond to inquiries from foreign media. This financing has also raised Mistral's valuation to approximately $11.7 billion, making it the highest-valued AI startup in Europe to date. Bloomberg even noted that the post-funding valuation could reach $14 billion.

The global AI sovereignty defense war continues.

Overall, ASML's substantial investment in Mistral may be aimed at maintaining European AI sovereignty amidst the rapid market expansion of American AI giants like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Europe urgently needs local forces to rise in order to ensure that the future development of AI is not entirely constrained by American companies.

)What is the basis for Mistral AI's valuation of $6.2 billion just two years after its founding? This article explains why Nvidia and a16z are betting on the French AI unicorn (.

This article ASML invests 1.5 billion dollars in Mistral AI, defending Europe's AI sovereignty, first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.