ASML to Invest €1.3B in European AI Startup

According to Reuters, Dutch semiconductor giant ASML may become the largest shareholder of French AI startup Mistral AI, aiming to strengthen Europe's tech independence. Sources say Mistral AI is preparing a new €1.7 billion funding round based on a €10 billion pre-money valuation, with ASML leading the round by investing €1.3 billion and securing a seat on the board.

If completed, this round would make Mistral AI the most valuable AI company in Europe. The partnership between ASML and Mistral AI is expected to help Europe reduce reliance on U.S. and Chinese AI models. Bank of America reportedly provided advisory services to ASML regarding the investment, though ASML, Mistral AI, and the bank declined to comment.

Founded in May 2023, Mistral AI's team consists of experts with deep experience in large language models. Co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch, a former Google DeepMind researcher, contributed to the Flamingo and Chinchilla models. Co-founders Timothée Lacroix (CTO) and Guillaume Lample (Chief Scientist), both ex-Meta Paris AI Lab researchers, specialize in model reasoning, pretraining, and embeddings, and were core contributors to Llama and Llama 2.

Following its Series B in 2024, Mistral AI's valuation exceeded $6 billion, with tech giants NVIDIA and Microsoft already onboard as investors and partners. Recent reports suggest the startup is negotiating a $1 billion funding round at a $10 billion valuation, while Bloomberg indicates the new round could target a $14 billion valuation.

ASML, the world's largest supplier of lithography machines and the sole EUV lithography provider, also operates in computational lithography and metrology—areas where AI can significantly boost efficiency. Integrating Mistral AI's data analysis and AI capabilities could enhance ASML's product performance and potentially lead to innovative new offerings.