Samsung is reportedly in talks to invest up to €1 billion in French AI startup Mistral, a deal that could push the company’s valuation to around €20 billion, according to the Financial Times.
Mistral is planning to raise several billion euros in this round. Its valuation has climbed from €12 billion to €20 billion in less than a year — a 67% jump.
Samsung has already invested in Mistral through its venture capital arm. The two companies have also discussed collaborating on AI memory chips. Mistral, meanwhile, needs more capital and chips to expand its European data centers.
After the US restricted overseas access to Anthropic’s latest model, demand for “sovereign AI” — AI that can be deployed and controlled locally — has heated up in Europe and Asia. Mistral, which focuses on open models that customers can deploy and control themselves, is positioning itself as a key alternative to US models.