**[Europe's Sole AI Hope Mistral in Talks for €3 Billion Financing: Valuation Could Reach €20 Billion, ASML as Largest Shareholder]** According to monitoring by Beating, Europe's sole AI contender, Mistral AI, is in discussions with investors for a new round of financing. Sources reveal that Mistral AI plans to raise approximately €3 billion (around $3.5 billion), with an expected valuation of €20 billion, which could potentially increase further due to investor demand. This would more than double its valuation of €11.7 billion during its fundraising last September. The negotiations are still in the early stages, and specific terms may change. Semiconductor equipment giant ASML is Mistral AI's largest shareholder. Last year, ASML invested €1.3 billion, holding an 11% stake. Mistral AI was founded in 2023 by former researchers from Google DeepMind and Meta. The company primarily provides cloud infrastructure services to European governments and enterprises, managing local data centers in France and Sweden. Recently, it signed cooperation agreements with Airbus and BMW. To expand its business, Mistral AI is in talks with European banks and other institutions, planning to offer cybersecurity models to replace Anthropic's Mythos model. Previously, Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch publicly stated that over-reliance on external parties for security vulnerability detection poses national security risks, emphasizing that Europe must independently control related technologies. [Original Link]