This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) is about to make a big move into artificial intelligence. The Dutch chip equipment maker is preparing to pour 1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) into French startup Mistral AI’s latest fundraising, Reuters reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the talks.
The investment would anchor Mistral’s 1.7 billion ($2 billion) Series C round and give ASML both a major equity stake and a board seat. The deal would value Mistral at about 10 billion ($11.7 billion) before new money, making it Europe’s most valuable AI startup and a stronger rival to U.S. players like OpenAI and Google.
Founded in 2023 by ex-DeepMind and Meta researchers, Mistral has quickly become Europe’s AI flagbearer, already backed by Nvidia and others. It was last valued at over $6 billion, but the new round could push that closer to $14 billion. For ASML, the tie-up could help bring AI into its chipmaking tools, while giving Mistral fresh firepower to scale without leaning too heavily on U.S. or Chinese systems.
ASML is the world’s only producer of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, essential for advanced chips, and each one costs roughly $180 million.