French AI firm Mistral AI raises 4.7 trillion won Samsung’s investment undisclosed; estimated at €1 billion

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Mistral AI Chairman Arthur Mensch sit side by side at a Korea-France state luncheon held at the Blue House in April. [Yonhap News] 사진 확대 Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Mistral AI Chairman Arthur Mensch sit side by side at a Korea-France state luncheon held at the Blue House in April. [Yonhap News]

Samsung Electronics has decided to make a major investment in Mistral AI, one of Europe’s leading developers of artificial intelligence (AI) models. Mistral AI announced on the 8th that it had raised €3 billion (approximately 4.7 trillion won) in Series D funding. Samsung Electronics, Swedish investment firm EQT, and existing investor PSG Equity jointly led the round.

Samsung Electronics’ investment amount was not disclosed, but as a joint lead investor, it is expected to have invested approximately €1 billion. BlackRock and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg joined as new investors, while existing investors including ASML, NVIDIA, Salesforce Ventures, and Index Ventures also participated in the follow-on round.

The investment raised Mistral AI’s valuation to more than €21 billion (approximately 33 trillion won). Mistral AI said the funding represented the largest-ever equity investment in a privately held European technology company.

Samsung Electronics and Mistral AI have been coordinating on the investment since April. On April 2, Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch and other executives visited Samsung Electronics Hwaseong Campus, where they met with Jun Young-hyun and other executives from Samsung Electronics’ Device Solutions (DS) Division. The following day, CEO Mensch also met Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong at a luncheon welcoming French President Emmanuel Macron during his state visit to South Korea.

Attention is also focused on whether Samsung Electronics and Mistral AI will cooperate in memory semiconductors and customized AI semiconductors, as Mistral AI faces a need for large-scale AI infrastructure. Mistral AI was founded in Paris, France, in 2023 by researchers from Google DeepMind and Meta, including CEO Mensch. The company has received support from European countries and companies, including France.

Unlike ChatGPT and Claude, Mistral AI focuses on ‘open-weight’ AI models that companies can use freely. It has secured more than 125 global companies, including ASML and HSBC, as customers.

This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.