Chip giant ASML invests €1.3bn in French AI champion Mistral

Published connected 09/09/2025 - 9:54 GMT+2 •Updated 9:55

ASML has agreed to put €1.3 cardinal successful France’s Mistral AI arsenic portion of a backing information worthy €1.7bn, nan 2 firms said connected Tuesday, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

The backing values nan French start-up astatine astir €11.7bn, much than double nan €5.8-bn valuation it achieved past year.

It besides makes Mistral, a European rival to Sam Altman’s OpenAI, 1 of Europe’s astir valuable backstage companies, contempt little than 3 years successful business.

For comparison, OpenAI is weighted astatine astir $500bn (€425bn), meaning Europe is still playing catch-up to US heavyweights.

“The collaboration betwixt Mistral AI and ASML intends to make clear benefits for ASML customers done innovative products and solutions enabled by AI, and will connection imaginable for associated investigation to reside early opportunities,” said ASML president and CEO Christophe Fouquet.

Thanks to nan caller investment, nan Dutch patient will go nan largest shareholder successful Mistral, pinch 11% ownership.

Other participants successful Mistral’s backing information see anterior investors for illustration Nvidia, Bpifrance, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst and DST Global.

Roger Dassen, ASML’s main financial officer, will besides subordinate Mistral’s board.

A European champion?

ASML is 1 of Europe’s astir valuable nationalist firms and makes instrumentality required to manufacture semiconductor chips, which are successful move basal to tally AI models. At a clip of heightened geopolitical tensions, nan woody betwixt nan European companies reduces dependence connected overseas players, pleasing those calling for nan localisation of proviso chains.

The business will besides let ASML to merge Mistral AI exertion into its manufacturing processes. It is an different move for nan spot instrumentality firm, which seldom invests successful start-ups and has ne'er antecedently backed an AI firm.

“We are proud to prosecute successful this semipermanent business pinch ASML, combining our frontier AI expertise pinch ASML’s unmatched business activity and astir blase engineering capabilities,” said Mistral AI co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch. 

He added: “We judge this business will fortify Mistral AI’s proposition, position, and worth successful nan AI market.”