Anthropic Abandons Planned $6 Billion Acquisition of Israeli AI Startup Decart

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has decided not to proceed with its planned acquisition of Israeli AI startup Decart AI, according to a Bloomberg report citing sources familiar with the matter. Anthropic had explored the possibility of the deal and conducted due diligence on Decart, but ultimately withdrew from the potential transaction. The sources, who requested anonymity due to the private nature of the information, indicated that the companies might still explore other forms of collaboration.

Representatives for both Anthropic and Decart declined to comment on the report. Anthropic, known for its AI chatbot Claude, was reportedly in negotiations to acquire Decart for approximately $6 billion. However, a final agreement was never reached, and the possibility of the talks failing was always present.

Decart develops software designed to reduce the costs associated with training and operating AI systems by improving the efficiency of chip performance. The rationale behind Anthropic's potential acquisition was to enhance its existing computing infrastructure to meet increasing demand.

Anthropic, which rarely engages in large acquisitions, is investing heavily in computing power for new product development and customer services as it prepares for its initial public offering (IPO). Sources close to the IPO preparations suggest the company aims to raise a sum comparable to, or even exceeding, that of SpaceX's IPO.

Decart was founded in 2023 by three Israeli engineers: brothers Dean and Oriyan Leittersdorf, and Moshe Shilo. The startup's offerings include an optimization system aimed at helping AI developers maximize performance from every chip, for both AI model training and post-training operations, known as inference.