ASML agreed to invest $1.3 billion in Mistral, a deal that would make it the largest shareholder in the French artificial intelligence company.
Dutch giant ASML is the world’s largest manufacturer of advanced chipmaking equipment, and the move ties two of Europe’s biggest AI-related companies closer together; Mistral’s CEO said it protected the continent against overreliance on US big tech groups.
Still, the size of the deal is a reminder of how far behind Europe is on tech, and AI in particular, compared to the US: Mistral is Europe’s most valuable AI firm, with a market capitalization of $13.76 billion, but it is less than 10% the value of Anthropic and smaller even than Perplexity.
