ASML to Invest $1.5 Billion in Mistral, the French A.I. Start-Up

Two of Europe’s leading technology companies struck a partnership on Tuesday, with ASML, the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker, investing about $1.5 billion in the French artificial intelligence start-up Mistral.

ASML is one of world’s most strategically significant tech companies because of the role its equipment plays in the production of semiconductors. Mistral is seen as Europe’s most promising artificial intelligence company.

The deal, which values Mistral at 11.7 billion euros, or $13.8 billion, comes amid growing concern across Europe about overdependence on American tech companies. Many European leaders fear the region’s lack of progress in technology will leave it economically lagging the United States and China.

The deal illustrates the growing links between developers of artificial intelligence and makers of semiconductors. A.I., which can be trained to perform skills by analyzing vast amounts of data, requires dizzying amounts of computing power from data centers packed with semiconductors.

ASML is at the center of that market because it is the only manufacturer of the machines capable of creating the world’s most advanced chips. One ASML machine can cost as much as $400 million.

Mistral, founded two year ago in Paris, is seen by many in Europe as the region’s best chance to compete against larger American A.I. developers like OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. Mistral is also facing stiff competition from the Chinese firms DeepSeek and Alibaba.

The French start-up has not raised nearly as much money as larger rivals, putting it at a financial disadvantage. Just last week, Anthropic brought it an additional $13 billion, valuing the company at $183 billion.

Under the deal announced on Tuesday, ASML invested €1.3 billion, making it Mistral’s largest shareholder with an ownership of about 11 percent. ASML’s investment was part of a larger €1.7 billion fund-raising round for Mistral. Other investors included DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Bpifrance, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Lightspeed and Nvidia.

ASML, whose equipment is vital for manufacturing A.I. chips, has been at the center of the geopolitical debate over technology. The company has grappled with trade policies that restrict the sale of its most advanced equipment to China and, more recently, tariffs on imports to the United States.

The Mistral deal is unusual for ASML, an equipment manufacturer that does not typically invest in start-ups. The company said Mistral’s technology would be used to develop new products, improve semiconductor production and other internal processes. The two companies will also work on joint research.

Arthur Mensch, the chief executive of Mistral, said in a statement that the deal combined “our frontier A.I. expertise with ASML’s unmatched industrial leadership and most sophisticated engineering capabilities.”