France's Mistral on Tuesday cemented its position as Europe's top AI hope against far larger US and Chinese competitors after a record fundraising round and a tie-up with chipmaking equipment heavweight ASML.

The 1.7 billion euro ($2 billion) cash infusion values Mistral at 11.7 billion euros, double its heft last year but a fraction of the $183 billion price tag placed on US firm Anthropic this month.

ASML, a key producer of the machines that churn out the chips powering artificial intelligence models, was the lead investor, with a 1.3-billion-euro infusion that gives the Dutch company an 11 percent stake in Mistral.

Mistral has been touted as a European AI champion as technological sovereignty concerns fester between the European Union and the United States under the second administra

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