Samsung eyes €1B Mistral stake at €20B valuation

Key Takeaways

• Samsung is in talks to invest up to €1 billion in Mistral AI, pushing its valuation to €20 billion
• This follows Samsung's 2024 investment and parallels its chip manufacturing talks with Anthropic
• Mistral expects $1 billion annual revenue by year-end and just expanded its Microsoft partnership

Samsung is negotiating an investment of up to €1 billion in Mistral AI, according to the Financial Times. The deal would value the Paris-based startup at roughly €20 billion, a 67% jump from its €12 billion valuation less than a year ago.

Swedish investor EQT is reportedly participating alongside Samsung in the new funding round. Samsung already holds a stake in Mistral through its venture arm, having invested during a 2024 round.

Why Samsung keeps betting on AI startups

The potential Mistral deal fits a pattern. Samsung is one of the world's largest memory chip makers, and AI workloads have become the primary driver of high-end chip demand. The company is also in talks with Anthropic about manufacturing a custom AI chip, which would give Samsung direct exposure to inference hardware beyond its current memory business.

For Samsung, stakes in foundation model companies like Mistral serve two purposes. They generate financial returns if valuations continue climbing. More importantly, they create relationships with the companies buying billions of dollars worth of chips annually. Mistral's new infrastructure deal with Microsoft involves thousands of Nvidia Vera Rubin GPUs. Those GPUs need Samsung's high-bandwidth memory to function.

Mistral's revenue push and Microsoft expansion

Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch said in February that he expects annual revenue to top $1 billion by year's end. That's an aggressive target for a company founded in 2023, but Mistral has moved fast. The company was built by former DeepMind and Meta researchers who bet that competitive foundation models could be built outside Silicon Valley.

This week, Mistral expanded its partnership with Microsoft. The US company committed billions of dollars in spending on Mistral's compute infrastructure. Mistral's models will be available through Azure, including in air-gapped environments without internet access for regulated industries like finance and healthcare.

Air-gapped deployments matter because they open enterprise segments that OpenAI and other API-first providers struggle to reach. Banks, hospitals, and government agencies often cannot send data to external servers. On-premises or private-cloud deployments solve that problem, and Mistral is positioning itself as the European option for those buyers.

What the valuation jump signals

Moving from €12 billion to €20 billion in under a year puts Mistral in rare company. The valuation reflects both revenue growth and strategic positioning. European regulators have been skeptical of American AI providers. Mistral, headquartered in Paris, benefits from being the obvious European alternative when procurement teams need to check a sovereignty box.

The jump also reflects how much capital is still flowing into frontier AI. Despite broader tech market cooling in other segments, foundation model companies continue to attract outsize funding. Investors are betting that a handful of companies will dominate the next decade of enterprise software, and they want exposure before the outcome becomes obvious.

Samsung's broader AI positioning

Samsung's AI moves extend beyond investments. The company recently established a dedicated robotics division called RX and recruited Hyundai's former robotics strategy head. Combined with the Anthropic chip talks and the Mistral stake, Samsung is building exposure to AI across hardware, models, and physical automation.

The strategy makes sense given Samsung's manufacturing roots. Unlike Google or Microsoft, Samsung doesn't need to own the models. It needs the model companies to need Samsung's components. Every AI lab scaling up means more orders for HBM memory, more potential custom chip contracts, and more devices that need Samsung screens and sensors.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is Samsung investing in Mistral AI?

Samsung is in talks to invest up to €1 billion in Mistral AI, according to the Financial Times. The deal has not closed yet.

What is Mistral AI's current valuation?

If the Samsung round closes, Mistral would be valued at approximately €20 billion, up from €12 billion less than a year ago.

Who founded Mistral AI?

Mistral was founded in 2023 by former researchers from Google DeepMind and Meta AI, including CEO Arthur Mensch.

What is Mistral's expected revenue for 2026?

CEO Arthur Mensch said in February 2026 that he expects annual revenue to exceed $1 billion by year's end.

How does Mistral's Microsoft partnership work?

Microsoft committed billions to Mistral's compute infrastructure. Mistral's models will be available through Azure, including in air-gapped environments for regulated industries.

Source: The Decoder / Jonathan Kemper