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Investing.com -- ASML’s reported €1.3 billion investment in French artificial intelligence startup Mistral AI could reshape perceptions of the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker, Bank of America (BofA) said in a note.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported on Sunday that ASML has become the company’s largest shareholder, securing a board seat.
The funding will give Mistral a pre-money valuation of €10 billion ($11.7 billion), making it the most valuable AI startup in Europe, the report said.
While the move may appear unusual for a semiconductor capital equipment firm, the potential transaction could benefit ASML in several ways, BofA analysts said.
“If true we think this potential transaction could help ASML on multiple fronts,” analysts led by Didier Scemama wrote, pointing to a better understanding of AI companies’ technology roadmaps, added optionality for shareholders, and a stronger role in shaping AI regulation.
The team argued this could support a re-rating of the stock, shifting it from being viewed solely as a semiconductor capital equipment name to also being seen as an AI stock.
ASML is projected to generate more than €70 billion in cumulative free cash flow through 2030, making the size of the deal modest in context, analysts said.
Founded in 2023 by former executives from DeepMind and Meta, Mistral AI develops both open-source and proprietary large language models. Its chatbot “Le Chat” is available on iOS and Android.
Benchmark tests suggest its models outperform Meta’s LLaMA 2 13B and rival LLaMA 34B, despite being smaller.
BofA said ASML’s backing could accelerate Mistral’s growth and help it emerge as a European counterweight to U.S. players such as Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta.
“Given Europe’s dependence on U.S. hyperscalers, Mistral AI could potentially offer a sovereign European alternative to U.S. leaders,” the analysts noted.