France's Mistral AI raised 3 billion euros, pushing its valuation to more than 21 billion euros. On the same day, ASML expanded advanced lithography cooperation with Samsung Electronics and TSMC. On Sept. 8 local time, blockchain outlet Cryptopolitan reported the two moves aligned with a trend of European companies seeking to rebuild competitiveness in AI and semiconductors.

In the Series D investment led by Samsung Electronics, Mistral AI said it was the biggest fundraising ever by a European technology company. The three-year-old company doubled its valuation in a year. Investors included the Scale Up Europe Fund, PSG Equity, Advent, a16z, Nvidia, Bpifrance, Index Ventures and existing shareholders. A fund managed by BlackRock and funds from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg also joined the round, which was led by EQT.

Mistral AI plans to use the funds for research and development and to expand products and infrastructure. Chief executive and co-founder Arthur Mensch (아르튀르 멩슈) said organisations want to run AI at scale to match their own data and tools and compliance requirements.

Mistral AI is smaller than OpenAI and Anthropic, but is pitching a “sovereign AI layer” as an alternative, with customers running AI on their own infrastructure and data. The company has secured more than 125 corporate customers in 20 countries, including Airbus, ASML and HSBC. Chief financial officer Johan Berikvist (요한 베리크비스트) said competition in enterprise AI is not decided by scale alone, and described Mistral AI's capabilities as closer to a mix of Palantir and Anthropic. He also said its funding needs for model development are not larger than some rivals.

The strategy also linked to government demand. The French government selected Mistral AI models to build tools for civil servants. In June, a domestic supplier replaced Palantir systems in a system for French intelligence agencies. Mistral AI signed a compute deal with Microsoft in July and is also pursuing the construction of France's first data centre.

ASML showed the same trend on the hardware side. Samsung Electronics and ASML announced on Sept. 8 they would expand cooperation on high-NA EUV lithography. Samsung plans to introduce ASML's high-NA equipment into DRAM production first in the industry, targeting 2028. High-NA raises the numerical aperture of the lens system from 0.33 to 0.55, enabling finer patterning.

Samsung also joined a consortium led by ASML to shift photomask standards. The consortium is pushing to change the industry standard from 6 inches to 12 inches. ASML and TSMC also announced the same 12-inch shift plan a day earlier, setting targets of building a pilot line in 2031 and applying it to advanced process production in 2033. TSMC plans to introduce high-NA into mass production from 2030.