Samsung Electronics has led a Series D funding round for Mistral AI, totaling €3 billion ($3.5 billion). This investment pushes the French startup's post-money valuation beyond €21 billion, marking one of the largest equity rounds for a European tech company.
The partnership focuses on integrating Mistral's AI models into Samsung's chip fabrication plants to optimize production efficiency and design workflows. Additionally, the companies are developing a custom, exclusive AI model for Samsung to ensure the protection of proprietary semiconductor data, following a 2023 incident where sensitive information leaked via ChatGPT.
Samsung's move is driven by a global supply squeeze in the memory sector, specifically High Bandwidth Memory, which is expected to last until 2028. The company aims to gain a competitive edge in a market where demand for AI-grade memory chips exceeds supply.
The deal aligns with technology cooperation agreements between South Korea and France, formalized during a September 2026 summit between President Lee and President Macron. Meanwhile, Mistral AI is planning a data center in the Paris region equipped with approximately 14,000 Nvidia GPUs to expand its compute capacity.