France warns Europe's AI future can't rest on Mistral alone

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure warned Wednesday that European AI sovereignty cannot rely solely on startup Mistral, saying "if European AI is just about Mistral, then we're doomed" amid US-China tech tensions. Lescure, speaking in Silicon Valley, stressed the need for a broader ecosystem rather than concentrating efforts in one company. He praised Mistral as "a company that we can be proud of" but declined to comment on reports it might shift focus to computing infrastructure. The French government holds an indirect stake in Mistral, valued at nearly 12 billion euros, which lags behind US and Chinese competitors. Lescure also cited Washington's June move forcing Anthropic to restrict foreign access to its models as evidence of US unpredictability.