Shipping giant CMA CGM and French AI startup target customer service in tie-up

By Gus Trompiz and Florence Loeve

PARIS (Reuters) - Shipping giant CMA CGM and tech startup Mistral AI expect rapid productivity gains from a 100 million euro partnership unveiled on Sunday, which the French firms also touted as a commitment to their home country amid the global trade tensions.

The five-year partnership, which will bring CMA CGM's AI-related spending to 500 million euros ($550 million), will focus on customer service in shipping and logistics and factchecking at its French media businesses that include news channel BFM TV.    In a joint interview with Mistral's co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch, CMA CGM's Chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saade declined to give financial targets for return on investment.

But Saade said "the implementation of initiatives should not exceed 6 to 12 months" and would slash response times for customer advisers receiving 1 million emails a week, including requests on routing of vessels.

After drawing massive funding, the AI sector is under pressure to deliver gains, with the emergence of low-cost Chinese AI model DeepSeek unsettling investors.

Mistral gained huge exposure at an international AI gathering in Paris in February, feted by President Emmanuel Macron as a European champion to compete with American giants such as OpenAI, which produces ChatGPT.

It has this year notched up partnerships with leading French groups including car maker Stellantis.

Mistral, which counts CMA CGM among its investors, expects a 10-fold increase in sales between December 2024 and December 2025, Mensch said.

But AI regulation has been among subjects of discord between the U.S. administration and Europe, and relations soured further after President Donald Trump announced his sweeping tariffs.

"In this period of uncertainty, I think it's a good thing for two French groups to announce this partnership," Saade said, while adding he believed in investing worldwide in open markets.

CMA CGM, the world's third-biggest container shipping line, was hailed by Trump last month for pledging to invest $20 billion in the United States.

The group has also teamed up with U.S. tech names, including Alphabet's Google, with which CMA CGM last July announced a five-year AI partnership worth $150 million.

($1 = 0.9101 euros)

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz and Florence Loeve; Editing by Alison Williams)