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ASML Becomes Largest Mistral Investor, Strengthening Europe’s AI Push

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ASML (ASML.AS) has invested €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) in French AI startup Mistral AI, becoming its largest shareholder with an 11% stake after the company’s latest €1.7 billion ($2 billion) funding round. The deal values Mistral at €11.7 billion, making it Europe’s most valuable AI company.

Deal Highlights

  • ASML gains a board seat on Mistral’s strategic committee, filled by CFO Roger Dassen.

  • The companies will integrate AI models into ASML’s semiconductor equipment portfolio.

  • Mistral, founded in 2023 by ex-Google DeepMind and Meta researchers, is central to France’s AI strategy.

Strategic Importance

  • The move pairs Europe’s leading chip supplier with its AI frontrunner, boosting ambitions for digital sovereignty against U.S. tech giants like OpenAI, Meta, and Google.

  • Despite progress, Mistral remains far smaller than U.S. peers — OpenAI’s potential valuation is estimated at $500 billion, more than 40 times higher.

  • ING analyst Jan Frederik Slijkerman said the tie-up provides “industrial rationale” for co-developing AI-based products, easier through partnership than in-house development.

Political & Industry Backing

  • ASML has strong French ties: it recently named former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire as adviser, and its CEO Christophe Fouquet is French.

  • The deal reflects growing alignment between Europe’s industrial leaders and AI startups to bolster competitiveness in global tech.

Investors in the Round

Alongside ASML, backers include DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Bpifrance, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, and Nvidia.

ASML shares rose 1% in early Amsterdam trading, giving the company a market value of €268 billion.

ElevenLabs Staff to Sell Shares at $6.6 Billion Valuation

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ElevenLabs, the fast-growing voice cloning AI startup, is allowing employees to sell shares at a $6.6 billion valuation, double its January 2024 value of $3.3 billion, according to Bloomberg News. The move highlights the ongoing competition among AI firms to retain top talent by offering stock liquidity.

The tender offer will enable staff who have worked at the company for at least a year to sell up to $100 million worth of shares, giving them an opportunity to cash out while allowing investors to boost stakes. Sequoia Capital and Iconiq are leading the deal, joined by Andreessen Horowitz and other backers.

Founded by Piotr Dabkowski (ex-Google) and Mati Staniszewski (ex-Palantir), ElevenLabs has seen explosive growth. Its headcount jumped from 77 employees to 331 in a year, while annualized recurring revenue surged from $100 million in October 2024 to $200 million in mid-2025. The company aims to hit $300 million by year-end.

The valuation leap puts ElevenLabs among the most valuable AI startups in the world. It comes as OpenAI also explores an employee stock sale that could value it at $500 billion, underscoring how AI’s growth is reshaping private markets.

Apple Hit With Lawsuit Over Use of Books in AI Training

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Apple was sued Friday in federal court in Northern California by authors who accuse the company of illegally using copyrighted books to train its “OpenELM” large language models. The proposed class action, filed by writers Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson, claims Apple copied protected works without consent, credit, or compensation.

“Apple has not attempted to pay these authors for their contributions to this potentially lucrative venture,” the lawsuit alleges. Neither Apple nor the plaintiffs’ lawyers immediately commented.

The case adds Apple to the growing list of tech giants—Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI among them—facing litigation over whether training AI on copyrighted material constitutes infringement or fair use. On the same day, Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement with authors who accused it of training its Claude chatbot on pirated books, a deal hailed as the largest copyright recovery in history.

According to the lawsuit, Apple’s models were trained on a known dataset of pirated books, allegedly including works by Hendrix and Roberson. The case seeks damages and legal recognition that Apple must compensate authors when their intellectual property is used to build AI systems.

The dispute underscores the escalating clash between AI developers and creators, as courts weigh how copyright law applies to massive datasets powering generative AI. With multiple cases now moving forward in U.S. courts, the outcome could reshape both the AI industry and protections for authors in the digital era.