Samsung and Mistral AI Discuss AI Memory Cooperation During Macron's State Visit to Korea

Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch visited Samsung Electronics' Hwaseong campus in South Korea, meeting Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun to discuss cooperation on AI memory. The visit was part of a French business delegation accompanying President Emmanuel Macron's state trip to South Korea. Mensch also met Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong during a state luncheon. Founded in 2023 by former Google DeepMind and Meta engineers, Mistral AI has raised over $2 billion, reaching a valuation of $11.7 billion. The company is building a new data center near Paris with ~14,000 Nvidia GPUs and 44MW initial capacity, set to launch in Q2. It plans to scale European computing capacity to 200MW by end of next year. The buildout drives demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a critical component for AI accelerators. An industry official noted: 'Just as AMD's Lisa Su recently traveled to Korea to meet Samsung, Mistral appears to be moving early to secure a stable memory supply in a tight market.' Cooperation could extend to Samsung's foundry business and embedding Mistral's AI models into Galaxy devices.