Mistral AI Expands Into Korea’s Manufacturing Sector, Jointly Developing Semiconductor AI With Samsung

French AI company Mistral AI is broadening its foothold in Korea’s manufacturing market. In July, Mistral AI began collaborating with Naver Cloud in manufacturing AI, and it is also jointly developing an AI model specialized for semiconductor design and manufacturing with Samsung Electronics. The move reflects a broader trend of expanding AI adoption across domestic manufacturing sites, led by Samsung and Naver.

According to Samsung Electronics on the 9th, Samsung Electronics signed a strategic partnership with Mistral AI on the 8th(local time) on the occasion of the Korea-France summit. The collaboration combines semiconductor technology and manufacturing data from Samsung Electronics’ DS(Device Solutions) division with Mistral AI’s AI models.

The two companies will develop their own AI model specialized for semiconductor design and manufacturing. Samsung Electronics will adapt AI solutions such as Mistral Large, Mistral AI’s LLM, to data from the DS division.

The AI model will be introduced in stages for data analysis, defect prediction, and process optimization. Samsung Electronics plans to use it to shorten development cycles and improve manufacturing efficiency and quality.

Samsung Electronics and Mistral AI will jointly build a semiconductor-work-specific platform and operating system in addition to the AI model. The AI model will be implemented on an On-Premises basis using Samsung Electronics’ own servers and data centers. The goal is to use semiconductor design and manufacturing data internally without transferring it outside the company.

The two companies plan to expand the scope of their cooperation across the DS division, including memory, foundry, and logic. Separately from the technology partnership, Samsung Electronics has also made an equity investment in Mistral AI.

Mistral AI raised EUR 3 billion in this investment round. After the investment, Mistral AI’s corporate value stands at about EUR 21 billion. This round is the largest ever in terms of equity fundraising by a European unlisted technology company. Samsung Electronics co-led this investment round with existing investors PSG Equity and the EU-backed Scaleup Europe Fund, and Samsung Electronics and the Scaleup Europe Fund joined this round as first-time investors in Mistral AI.

Founded in 2023, Mistral AI is a French AI company established by researchers from Google DeepMind and Meta. The company is regarded as a key player in Europe’s AI sovereignty strategy amid efforts to reduce dependence on U.S. big tech technology. Mistral AI focuses on AI models and On-Premises deployments that allow companies to retain control over their data and infrastructure.

Because of these characteristics, Mistral AI has targeted industries where data control is critical, building its business around manufacturing, finance, and energy. Manufacturing, in particular, is seen as a major market for enterprise AI, and applications in the sector continue to expand. Mistral AI has worked with Airbus on aircraft design and operations, and with BMW it developed industry-specific AI models for use cases such as collision simulations. It has also applied AI in engineering areas such as high-performance component design and control with ASML, and its collaboration with Samsung Electronics marks an expansion of its manufacturing AI business into semiconductor design and production sites.

Jeon Young-hyun, head of Samsung Electronics’ DS division, said that as the complexity of semiconductor design and manufacturing rapidly increases, AI capabilities for the safe and sophisticated use of vast amounts of data are becoming a core competitive advantage. He added that Samsung will build AI models and platforms specialized for the semiconductor industry with Mistral AI.

Meanwhile, before its cooperation with Samsung Electronics, Mistral AI began targeting Korea’s manufacturing AI market with Naver Cloud. Naver Cloud and Mistral AI signed a strategic partnership in July, and they are pushing a plan to supply Mistral AI’s latest models and platforms to domestic companies through the Naver Cloud Platform. Mistral AI plans to dispatch dedicated field engineers(FDE) directly to client companies, and as its first task it is moving to apply real-time quality anomaly detection and component selection optimization to domestic manufacturing environments.

Kim Yu-won, CEO of Naver Cloud, said the company would deliver practical business cooperation by combining Mistral AI’s manufacturing-focused technology with Naver Cloud’s infrastructure. He added that they would build successful references in Korea and identify joint business opportunities in the global sovereign AI market.

Naver’s cooperation with Mistral AI is continuing on the back of existing sovereign AI collaboration and the Korea-France summit diplomacy, and the two companies attended the Korea-France Economic Business Roundtable on the 8th. At the event, they discussed ways to jointly enter global markets based on their existing sovereign AI cooperation. Naver operates Naver Labs Europe in Grenoble, France, where AI and robotics research is being conducted.

Source: IT DAILY · Kim Byung-joo
Original: https://www.itdaily.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=241506

References

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