(Reuters) -Apple ( AAPL ) has held talks internally about acquiring French AI startup Mistral as well as Perplexity, the Information reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Apple ( AAPL ) has trailed rivals such as Google and Samsung in terms of roll-out of AI features in its devices.

CEO Tim Cook signaled last month that Apple ( AAPL ) was open to larger AI-related acquisitions to accelerate its roadmap, a shift from its historically conservative M&A posture.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Apple ( AAPL ), Mistral and Perplexity did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Nvidia-backed Mistral was valued at more than $6 billion after its Series B funding round last year and the Financial Times reported this month that the French company was in talks to raise $1 billion at a valuation of $10 billion.

Executives at the iPhone maker have held internal talks about potentially bidding for Nvidia and Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity, Bloomberg News reported earlier this year.