ASML Invests Another €400 Million in French AI Start-up Mistral

ASML is once again expanding its commitment to artificial intelligence. The Dutch chip equipment manufacturer is investing hundreds of millions of euros more in the French company Mistral. With this move, ASML remains a major shareholder in a company that is poised to become Europe’s answer to American AI giants.

The investment comes at a crucial moment. Europe is trying to reduce its dependence on American and Chinese technology. Mistral aims to play a key role in this effort, not only with its own AI models but also with European data centers.

ASML is contributing 400 million euros to a new funding round for Mistral. The French AI developer is raising a total of 3 billion euros and will be valued at more than 21 billion euros following the round.

According to Mistral, this is the largest equity financing round ever completed by a European technology company. Samsung Electronics is leading the round. Several major investors from Europe and the United States are also participating, including BlackRock, Nvidia, and Salesforce Ventures.

This is not ASML’s first major investment in Mistral. Last year, the Dutch company led a previous funding round and invested 1.3 billion euros. In exchange, ASML received a stake of approximately 11 percent. With the new investment, that stake remains around 10 percent.

The two companies are also collaborating. ASML plans to use Mistral’s AI models for research and development, among other things. Artificial intelligence can, for example, be used to further improve the quality and productivity of ASML’s highly complex chip manufacturing machines.

Meanwhile, the collaboration is taking on broader significance. Europe is seeking to strengthen its position in the global technology race with the United States and China.

Mistral is explicitly capitalizing on this trend. The French company started out primarily as a developer of AI models, but is now also investing heavily in its own digital infrastructure. With the new capital, Mistral aims to acquire more computing power, conduct further research, and expand internationally.

Among other things, the company is building its own data centers in France and Sweden. This ensures that sensitive data from European customers remains within Europe. Mistral refers to this as “sovereign AI.” The goal is for companies and governments to maintain greater control over their data, models, and infrastructure.

This approach is intended to offer an alternative to major U.S. AI companies. For European businesses, this can be important if they do not want sensitive corporate information to become dependent on infrastructure outside of Europe.

The company’s ambitions are now substantial. Mistral operates in twenty countries and says it supports more than 125 major international companies with key AI applications. In addition to ASML, these include Airbus and HSBC.

For now, Mistral is not entirely independent of the United States. To handle the enormous amount of computing power required to develop and use AI models, the company relies, among other things, on chips from Nvidia.

Mistral also collaborates with Microsoft. Among other things, the American tech giant offers secure cloud environments where data can be stored in European data centers.

Nevertheless, political and economic pressure to develop more technology within Europe is growing. This was evident once again during French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to Eindhoven. Together with Prime Minister Rob Jetten, he visited ASML. French and Dutch companies discussed further technological cooperation during the visit. Both ASML and Mistral participated in those discussions.

For Mistral, the new round of funding primarily means that the company can significantly scale up its ambitions. With a valuation of more than 21 billion euros and billions in new capital, Europe now has an AI company that is increasingly seeking to compete with the largest players from the United States.