Samsung is in talks to invest hundreds of millions of euros in Mistral AI, as part of a fund-raising round that could value the French AI start-up at roughly €20 billion (S$29.5 billion), the Financial Times reported on July 22, citing sources.The South Korean conglomerate could invest about €1 billion in the new round, the report said, adding that Swedish investor EQT’s Scaleup Europe Fund is also in talks to back the fund-raising round.In April, Samsung said it would consider investment and acquisitions where necessary to accelerate development and commercialisation in robotics, while partnering local companies for technology development.Reuters could not immediately verify the report.Samsung and Mistral did not immediately respond to requests for comment.This comes after Microsoft and Mistral announced on July 21 an agreement under which the US giant will invest billions of dollars in Mistral’s computing infrastructure in Europe while also expanding distribution of the artificial intelligence start-up’s technology through Microsoft’s cloud and software platforms.There is growing interest in Europe and elsewhere in reducing dependence on US technology to give other countries a greater say in their future societies and economies.Mistral supplies the French military and has positioned itself as a European alternative to US technology giants at a time when governments in the region are pushing for greater technological independence.However, its valuation remains dwarfed by US peers such as Anthropic.Separately, a US decision in June to pause foreign access to two advanced models from San Francisco-based Anthropic has made technology independence a more urgent issue in Europe. REUTERS