Anthropic explored $7B deal for chip startup MatX

Anthropic discussed acquiring artificial intelligence chip startup MatX for roughly $7 billion as it sought to bring custom hardware capabilities in-house, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two people briefed on the matter.investing+1

The merger talks have since evolved into discussions about a potential partnership, a third person told Reuters. The wire service reported on the discussions for the first time but said the reasons the acquisition talks are no longer active could not be determined.live.euronext

Custom Chips for a Fast-Growing Business

The abandoned deal reflects the intensity of competition among leading AI companies to secure chip design talent and reduce reliance on third-party hardware suppliers. Anthropic's revenue run rate topped $65 billion by the end of July, up from about $9 billion at the end of 2025, according to Reuters. The company is also reportedly eyeing a potential public listing later this year.reuters

MatX was founded by former Google Alphabet Inc. ↗ 0.78% tensor processing unit engineers and is now seeking to raise new capital at a valuation of about $4 billion, one of the people told Reuters. The startup's pedigree in custom AI accelerator design made it an attractive target for Anthropic's ambitions to develop proprietary chips optimized for its models.live.euronext

Broader Context

Anthropic's hardware ambitions come amid a broader push by AI labs to vertically integrate their technology stacks. Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. ↘ 0.35% committed to investing up to $25 billion in Anthropic in April as part of a deal that includes Anthropic spending more than $100 billion over the next decade on Amazon's cloud services. Separately, Anthropic has told investors it sees its total addressable market exceeding $30 trillion.reuters+1

Anthropic declined to comment on deal talks with MatX. MatX did not respond to a request for comment.live.euronext