Today, the tech industry’s grotesque marriage of profit and war was laid bare as Dutch semiconductor giant ASML announced a $1.5 billion investment in French AI startup Mistral, while reports revealed that Google and YouTube have pocketed tens of millions in Israeli state-linked funding amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The revelations, published by The Times of Israel, expose how capitalism’s most celebrated innovators are not just complicit in imperial violence—they are its financial beneficiaries.
AI Gold Rush Fuels Billion-Dollar Valuations
ASML, the world’s sole producer of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines—critical for manufacturing advanced semiconductors—is pouring $1.5 billion into Mistral, a Paris-based AI firm barely a year old. The investment values Mistral at over $11 billion, a staggering figure for a company with no public track record of ethical AI development. Instead, Mistral’s rapid ascent mirrors the broader AI hype cycle, where venture capitalists and tech monopolies throw billions at unproven startups while workers face layoffs, wage stagnation, and algorithmic exploitation.
This deal is not about innovation; it’s about control. ASML’s dominance in semiconductor manufacturing gives it outsized influence over global tech supply chains, allowing it to dictate terms to governments and corporations alike. By bankrolling Mistral, ASML is positioning itself at the heart of the AI arms race, ensuring that the next generation of automated labor, surveillance, and warfare tools remains firmly in the hands of the ruling class. Meanwhile, the workers who actually build and maintain these systems—from Foxconn factory laborers to Amazon warehouse employees—see none of the profits.
Google and YouTube: War Profiteers in Disguise
While ASML’s investment grabs headlines, the quieter revelation that Google and YouTube received $27 million and $18 million, respectively, from Israeli sources is far more sinister. The payments, framed by The Times of Israel as routine business transactions, come as Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed over 38,000 Palestinians, displaced millions, and destroyed critical infrastructure. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has long been a key player in the U.S.-Israeli tech axis, providing cloud services to the Israeli military and censoring Palestinian voices on its platforms.
These payments are not neutral. They are blood money. Google and YouTube’s algorithms have systematically suppressed content documenting Israeli war crimes while amplifying pro-Israel propaganda. The company’s Project Nimbus—a $1.2 billion contract to provide cloud computing services to the Israeli government—has directly enabled the occupation’s digital infrastructure, from facial recognition surveillance in the West Bank to data processing for military operations in Gaza. The $45 million in recent funding is merely the latest installment in a decades-long partnership between Silicon Valley and apartheid.
The Tech-War Nexus: A Feature, Not a Bug
The convergence of ASML’s investment and Google’s payouts is no coincidence. It reflects the structural reality of modern capitalism: tech monopolies and imperial states are inseparable. The same companies that tout “disruption” and “democratization” are the ones propping up settler colonialism, funding occupation, and profiting from displacement. ASML’s machines are used in factories that supply chips to the U.S. military-industrial complex. Google’s AI tools are deployed by police departments to target Black and brown communities. YouTube’s ad revenue model thrives on the spectacle of violence, from Gaza to Ferguson.
This is not a glitch in the system. It is the system working as intended. The ruling class has always used technological advancement as a tool of domination, from the cotton gin’s role in entrenching slavery to Facebook’s facilitation of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. Today, AI and semiconductors are the latest weapons in capital’s arsenal, wielded to extract wealth, suppress dissent, and maintain global hegemony.
The tech industry’s apologists will argue that these investments are “apolitical” or “just business.” But capital is never neutral. Every dollar ASML funnels into Mistral is a dollar not spent on housing, healthcare, or climate reparations. Every million Google pockets from Israel is a million that could have gone toward Palestinian relief. The choice to profit from occupation is a political one—and it is a choice that makes these companies complicit in crimes against humanity.
Why This Matters:
This story is not just about tech deals or corporate valuations. It is about the rot at the heart of global capitalism, where innovation is weaponized, and profit is prioritized over human life. ASML’s $1.5 billion investment in Mistral is a stark reminder that the AI revolution is not being built for the people—it is being built to entrench the power of the ruling class, automate exploitation, and enable further imperialist violence. Meanwhile, Google and YouTube’s $45 million in Israeli funding exposes the lie that Big Tech is a force for progress. These companies are not neutral platforms; they are active participants in war, occupation, and apartheid.
For the left, this moment demands more than outrage. It demands a reckoning with the fact that tech monopolies are not reformable—they must be dismantled. The same tools used to surveil Palestinians are used to track union organizers in Amazon warehouses. The same AI systems that automate drone strikes are used to deny workers healthcare benefits. The fight against imperialism and the fight against capitalism are one and the same.
The billions flowing into Mistral and Google are not just investments; they are declarations of war on the global working class. Our response must be to build solidarity across borders, to demand the nationalization of tech infrastructure, and to reject the false choice between “ethical capitalism” and outright barbarism. The future of technology must be decided by workers, not billionaires—and that future must be one of liberation, not exploitation.