ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) and France-based Mistral AI announced a strategic partnership on Tuesday that combines semiconductor manufacturing expertise with frontier artificial intelligence capabilities to accelerate innovation across the semiconductor and AI value chain.

ASML said it will apply Mistral’s AI models throughout its product portfolio and R&D operations to deliver faster time-to-market and higher-performance holistic lithography systems for its customers.

To cement the collaboration, ASML is investing 1.3 billion euros as the lead investor in Mistral AI’s Series C funding round, acquiring an 11% stake on a fully diluted basis.

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ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said the agreement moves beyond a traditional vendor-client relationship, creating opportunities for joint research and AI-enabled product innovation.

Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch said the partnership blends ASML’s industrial leadership with Mistral’s frontier AI expertise. ASML will gain a seat on Mistral AI’s Strategic Committee as part of the deal, with CFO Roger Dassen appointed to represent the company.

ASML stock has climbed 15% so far in 2025, outpacing the Nasdaq 100 Index’s gain of just over 13%. The performance reflects sustained demand for its extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, the cornerstone of advanced semiconductor production and a critical enabler of the current AI-driven chip boom.

Recent reports indicate that ASML is becoming Mistral AI’s largest shareholder after leading its $2 billion Series C funding round.

Mistral, often called Europe’s AI champion and backed by Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), competes with U.S. leaders like OpenAI and Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google. ASML’s investment could reduce Europe’s reliance on American and Chinese AI models while boosting its use of AI in chipmaking.

Price Action: ASML stock is trading higher by 0.04% to 796.60 premarket at last check Tuesday.

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