Mistral isn't exactly some decade-long state funded national champion. Its a 1 year old startup whose core staff all come from American tech companies. With 0 revenue and minimal market share, there's like no conceivable metric in traditional antitrust theory to block this. Yet the EU prevents it from taking foreign investment all the same.
Look at TSMC in comparison. It IS the national champion of Taiwan, yet its majority foreign owned, doesn't stop it from underpinning the Taiwan economy and spawning massive ecosystems in its local areas.. Taiwan's government understands its place in the international economy, so prefers to cooperate and trust its international partners.
No they haven't.
So at what point in their buying spree do you cut them off? Do you wait until they've bought 90% of AI startups? 50%? Does it matter if there are 4 AI startups or 40?
It's not illegal to be a monopoly[0] (at least in the US) but abusing your monopoly is what gets you in trouble. Copyright and patents are examples of gov't granted monopolies.
[0] Fully conceding the fact that MS is a convicted monopolist and has to play by different rules than everyone else.
Do you have a different experience?
They can't defend their own backyard, refuses to pay for their 2%, and free-rides off of US protection.
They tried to court China as their partner, only to now face a flood of Chinese car imports that outcompete their once prided industries.
They seem to only care about national security when it comes to fleecing US companies, rather than say defending against Russia, or strategizing against China.
Stop with that nonsense. Every single country that imports American goods has regulations on how it is imported. Your expectations are misaligned if you think the concept of a Free Market extends to other countries carte-blanche. Not even the United States can stop itself from regulating it's own businesses, and usually it's for the better.
These comments pop-up all the time but never have a reasonable alternative to suggest. This is what governance looks like; I'm sorry if you're offended on Apple or Microsoft's behalf.
Like, purely on the basis that MS might not be allowed to take you over?
TBH I'd assume the FTC would at least be asking questions here, too. EC and FTC thinking on competition is generally not all _that_ different, but the EC tends to be quicker to act these days (this was not always the case; the FTC was very much out in front on Intel and Internet Explorer back in the day).