Mistral AI is reportedly in early talks to raise around €3 billion, in a move which could value the French start-up at roughly €20 billion.
Sources told Bloomberg the terms of the proposed raise may still change, and the valuation could also move higher depending on investor demand.
The rumoured round would strengthen Mistral AI’s position as Europe’s main AI challenger by providing the company with more capital as AI players face rising costs for computing power, infrastructure and talent across the globe.
It would also mark a sharp jump from the €11.7 billion valuation Mistral AI secured in September 2025 when Dutch chipmaker ASML became the largest shareholder in the start-up with an 11% stake after leading a €1.7 billion Series C funding round.
The start-up has positioned itself as a sovereign alternative to US and Chinese AI players, targeting European governments and companies with plans to build out cloud computing facilities in France and Sweden.
Mistral AI recently also moved to target industrial customers including Airbus and BMW for services covering engineering and manufacturing.
The French player acquired Austrian start-up Emmi AI last month as part of efforts to expand its services to industrial customers in Europe.
However, the company still trails larger rivals as its models and chatbot have still not matched the adoption of offerings from US players OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as Chinese competitors.
Last month, Anthropic raised $65 billion in a funding round valuing it at $965 billion, eclipsing OpenAI’s $852 billion valuation following its latest funding round in March.
Mobile World Live brings you our top three picks of the week as Apple reset its AI ambitions at WWDC, OpenAI edged closer to a stock market debut and French operators agreed a €20.4 billion deal to carve-up SFR.
Apple lands Siri AI at WWDC as Cook takes a bow
What happened: During its annual WWDC event, Apple reset its AI strategy, unveiled a revamped AI-powered Siri and spotlighted new child-safety controls as Tim Cook delivered his final keynote as CEO.
Why it matters: Apple SVP of software Craig Federighi said, “truly helpful AI must be centred around you and your needs”, positioning privacy, personal context and deeper app integration as core pillars of the AI-enhanced Siri. The launch gives Apple a chance to overwrite a damaging run of Siri AI delays described internally as “ugly and embarrassing”. Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, said “Apple had to address its shortcomings in AI, and WWDC provided some answers”, but added the company must deliver “a meaningfully better everyday experience, not just parity with rivals”. He noted many features will already be familiar to Android and third-party AI app users, adding iPhone users are “more likely to upgrade for better battery life, an improved camera or a bigger screen rather than to get AI”. However, challenges have already emerged. The AI-upgraded Siri and Apple Intelligence features have already been delayed indefinitely in the European Union (EU) over competition laws and blocked in China over local AI regulations.
On child safety, Wood called Apple’s push “a welcome and timely move” as concerns about online harm grow among regulators but said “stronger cross-industry safeguards need to be built into operating systems at a deeper platform level”. Cook’s farewell added weight to the event as he declared the iPhone will “continue to be the centre of people’s digital lives”, adding, “the best is still ahead”.
What happened: OpenAI confidentially filed paperwork for a US IPO, becoming the latest AI company to move towards a listing as the sector’s biggest players race to raise fresh funds.
Why it matters: The ChatGPT-maker stated it had submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), adding, “we expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it”. It did not disclose the size, price or timing of the listing and cautioned a debut may not be imminent “because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company”. OpenAI explained the decision involves “a complicated set of trade-offs”, but the filing gives it “the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best”. Reuters reported the company is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion, with a debut possible as early as September. The filing puts OpenAI into a crowded and expensive AI listings race; rival Anthropic confidentially filed for its own US IPO last week, while SpaceX launched a blockbuster listing. Aviva Investors’ head of multi-asset Sunil Krishnan told the BBC all firms all have a “vast need for cash” as “no one wants to be last” in a space where access to capital could prove crucial as companies fund AI chips, infrastructure and model training. Harrison Rolfes, senior research analyst at PitchBook, argued OpenAI’s $1 trillion listing is “a bet on a company that has never been profitable, in a market it is currently losing, with a cost structure it cannot change for at least another year”. He added this is “all while racing a direct competitor through the same SEC process in the same quarter.” Rolfes concluded: “There is no scenario where OpenAI pricing after a profitable Anthropic favours OpenAI.”
What happened: Bouygues Telecom, Free-Iliad Group and Orange signed a memorandum of understanding with Altice France to acquire and carve up SFR in a deal valuing the operator at €20.4 billion, setting the stage for a major reset of France’s telecoms market.
Why it matters: Under terms outlined in April, Bouygues will take 42% of SFR’s assets, Free-Iliad 31% and Orange 27%. SFR’s consumer mobile and fixed broadband operations will be divided between the three operators, while Bouygues will take control of the B2B unit. Completion is targeted for H2 2027, subject to regulatory clearance. Kester Mann, director, consumer and connectivity at CCS Insight, noted the move marks the biggest potential shake-up in French telecoms since Iliad entered the mobile market in 2012, cutting the number of major operators from four to three and reshaping competition. He said the agreement appears “a successful outcome for all parties” as Bouygues, Orange and Iliad all gain “important new assets in their pursuit of greater scale”, while removing a key rival will “reduce the competitive intensity of the market”. However, the biggest challenge will be to regulators show the deal will deliver “positive outcomes to the French market”. He noted that while that would once have been “a herculean task”, recent approvals in the UK and Spain suggest Europe’s stance on consolidation is softening.
Mobile World Live brings you our top three picks of the week as Apple reset its AI ambitions at WWDC, OpenAI edged closer to a stock market debut and French operators agreed a €20.4 billion deal to carve-up SFR.
Apple lands Siri AI at WWDC as Cook takes a bow
What happened: During its annual WWDC event, Apple reset its AI strategy, unveiled a revamped AI-powered Siri and spotlighted new child-safety controls as Tim Cook delivered his final keynote as CEO.
Why it matters: Apple SVP of software Craig Federighi said, “truly helpful AI must be centred around you and your needs”, positioning privacy, personal context and deeper app integration as core pillars of the AI-enhanced Siri. The launch gives Apple a chance to overwrite a damaging run of Siri AI delays described internally as “ugly and embarrassing”. Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, said “Apple had to address its shortcomings in AI, and WWDC provided some answers”, but added the company must deliver “a meaningfully better everyday experience, not just parity with rivals”. He noted many features will already be familiar to Android and third-party AI app users, adding iPhone users are “more likely to upgrade for better battery life, an improved camera or a bigger screen rather than to get AI”. However, challenges have already emerged. The AI-upgraded Siri and Apple Intelligence features have already been delayed indefinitely in the European Union (EU) over competition laws and blocked in China over local AI regulations.
On child safety, Wood called Apple’s push “a welcome and timely move” as concerns about online harm grow among regulators but said “stronger cross-industry safeguards need to be built into operating systems at a deeper platform level”. Cook’s farewell added weight to the event as he declared the iPhone will “continue to be the centre of people’s digital lives”, adding, “the best is still ahead”.
What happened: OpenAI confidentially filed paperwork for a US IPO, becoming the latest AI company to move towards a listing as the sector’s biggest players race to raise fresh funds.
Why it matters: The ChatGPT-maker stated it had submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), adding, “we expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it”. It did not disclose the size, price or timing of the listing and cautioned a debut may not be imminent “because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company”. OpenAI explained the decision involves “a complicated set of trade-offs”, but the filing gives it “the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best”. Reuters reported the company is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion, with a debut possible as early as September. The filing puts OpenAI into a crowded and expensive AI listings race; rival Anthropic confidentially filed for its own US IPO last week, while SpaceX launched a blockbuster listing. Aviva Investors’ head of multi-asset Sunil Krishnan told the BBC all firms all have a “vast need for cash” as “no one wants to be last” in a space where access to capital could prove crucial as companies fund AI chips, infrastructure and model training. Harrison Rolfes, senior research analyst at PitchBook, argued OpenAI’s $1 trillion listing is “a bet on a company that has never been profitable, in a market it is currently losing, with a cost structure it cannot change for at least another year”. He added this is “all while racing a direct competitor through the same SEC process in the same quarter.” Rolfes concluded: “There is no scenario where OpenAI pricing after a profitable Anthropic favours OpenAI.”
What happened: Bouygues Telecom, Free-Iliad Group and Orange signed a memorandum of understanding with Altice France to acquire and carve up SFR in a deal valuing the operator at €20.4 billion, setting the stage for a major reset of France’s telecoms market.
Why it matters: Under terms outlined in April, Bouygues will take 42% of SFR’s assets, Free-Iliad 31% and Orange 27%. SFR’s consumer mobile and fixed broadband operations will be divided between the three operators, while Bouygues will take control of the B2B unit. Completion is targeted for H2 2027, subject to regulatory clearance. Kester Mann, director, consumer and connectivity at CCS Insight, noted the move marks the biggest potential shake-up in French telecoms since Iliad entered the mobile market in 2012, cutting the number of major operators from four to three and reshaping competition. He said the agreement appears “a successful outcome for all parties” as Bouygues, Orange and Iliad all gain “important new assets in their pursuit of greater scale”, while removing a key rival will “reduce the competitive intensity of the market”. However, the biggest challenge will be to regulators show the deal will deliver “positive outcomes to the French market”. He noted that while that would once have been “a herculean task”, recent approvals in the UK and Spain suggest Europe’s stance on consolidation is softening.
Google reportedly is in discussions with Samsung Electronics to manufacture part of its next-generation AI processor, which could include using the latter’s 2-nanometer production technology.
The Information reported Google plans for TSMC to produce the main computing component of its tensor processing unit (TPU), codenamed Icefish, while Samsung may manufacture a component which helps connect it to memory.
Reuters reported the tech giant is also working with chip designer MediaTek on the overall design. Icefish is still in development, with mass production possible as early as 2028.
Landing the deal would be a major boost for Samsung’s foundry ambitions, strengthening an effort to win more advanced chip manufacturing business.
Its 2nm process would allow more transistors to be packed into smaller chips, improving performance, energy efficiency and AI capabilities, Reuters noted. It added the South Korean vendor is also considering a second Texas plant to expand output.
The reports are the latest indication Google is looking to reduce its reliance on TSMC, which is struggling to keep pace with surging AI demand and could prove a bottleneck for the wider industry.
Earlier this week, The Information also reported Google is in talks with Intel to manufacture more than three million TPUs in 2028.
Login
