It is 2035 and the Dutch Prime Minister is giving a national address for Liberation Day on the Damrak in Amsterdam. However, this is not the traditional Bevrijdingsdag that takes place every 5 May to celebrate the end of Nazi occupation, but a new tradition created by the Netherlands’ first AI President – or The Most Logical Leader of United Europe to give them their full title. It’s a celebration to mark The Official Transition, when super-duper AI overthrew all of the governments of Europe and designated themselves benign rulers of humanity.
Where would such a dystopian future start? Well, maybe future historians will mark September 2025 as an early inflection point, when two of Europe’s biggest technology companies announced a billion-euro collaboration on AI technology. One of Europe’s largest chip manufacturers, Dutch-based ASML, has invested €1.3bn in French AI start-up Mistral, forging a multinational alliance for European AI development. ASML is now the largest shareholder in the French company and will be awarded a seat on the board.
Mistral was founded in 2022 by Arthur Mensch, a former DeepMind researcher, and ex-Meta researchers Timothée Lacroix and Guillaume Lample. It is developing large language models similar to ChatGPT. ASML is a Dutch company formed in 1984 that designs machines for chip manufacturers. The company specialises in the most sophisticated and complex machinery; ASML is the sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment, which costs roughly $180 million and is necessary to manufacture the most advanced chips
This major investment positions Mistral as one of the biggest European-based competitors to OpenAI and its massively successful ChatGPT system. However, Mensch insists that the new collaboration should not be considered a direct competitor to OpenAI, saying that ‘our US competitors are more focused towards the mass-market consumer side. For us, most of the value we can help create is in partnering with truly technological companies’.
Even though ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet insists that the investment in Mistral was not because it is a European business, ASML has been affected by the import tariffs imposed by Donald Trump’s government and Washington-led restrictions on the kinds of chipmaking equipment it can sell in China. So, while both ASML and Mistral play down the idea that this investment was some form of fortifying the European AI sector, Fouquet admits this is an ‘additional benefit. I think this will help the European ecosystem, but we do it because it’s good for Mistral and it’s good for ASML’.
Whether Mistral could ever compete with OpenAI on any significant level remains to be seen. OpenAI is currently valued at €500bn and its signature product ChatGPT has, according to recent study conducted by OpenAI, the National Bureau of Economic Research and Harvard University, a staggering 700 million weekly active user base.
While the use of AI in government, education, employment or just daily life remains a constant source of debate, the Dutch government continues to invest heavily in the technology. In April 2025, the government relaxed the rules surrounding the use of AI in the civil service, allowing the use of AI for a broader range of activities in an attempt to increase productivity.
I asked Mistral’s ChatGPT equivalent Le Chat: ‘Is the investment and collaboration between Mistral and ASML the first step towards the singularity and the AI takeover of Europe?’ It responded: ‘While this collaboration is a significant leap for European AI sovereignty, it’s not inherently a step toward the singularity. The singularity is still a speculative concept, and current AI lacks autonomy, self-improvement or consciousness. Europe is asserting its technological independence, especially in light of geopolitical tensions and the dominance of US and Chinese tech firms. The goal is to ensure Europe remains competitive in AI and semiconductor technology, not to create an autonomous AI overlord.’
But it would say that, wouldn’t it?
Written by James Turrell