Anthropic walks away from $6 billion Decart AI deal

Anthropic has walked away from its planned acquisition of Decart AI, an Israeli-founded startup specializing in AI compute efficiency, according to Bloomberg News. The deal, valued at roughly $6 billion, would have been the Claude maker's largest known acquisition.bloomberg

Due Diligence Done, Deal Undone

Bloomberg reported on Monday that Anthropic had explored the transaction and conducted due diligence on Decart but ultimately decided not to proceed. The companies could still pursue other forms of collaboration, the report added, citing people familiar with the matter.investing

Talks between the two companies were first reported by Bloomberg in August, when it said Anthropic was in negotiations to acquire Decart for about $6 billion. At the time, Decart's team was expected to join Anthropic's inference and performance organization, according to Fortune. No agreement was ever finalized, and people close to the discussions had cautioned that the talks could fall through.bloomberg+1

Decart develops software designed to improve chip efficiency and reduce the cost of training and running AI models. The startup had raised $450 million in funding, including a $300 million round led by Nvidia ↗ 2.78%, according to KuCoin News.kucoin

Infrastructure Push Continues

The decision to abandon the Decart deal comes as Anthropic has been aggressively expanding its computing capacity through other channels. The company recently sealed a $35 billion cloud computing agreement with Lambda, a cloud provider backed by Nvidia, according to Bloomberg. That six-year deal involves a data center in Nueces County, Texas, being developed by Hut 8 ↗ 14.58%, with Nvidia holding the facility lease.bloomberg+1

Reuters confirmed the Lambda agreement, reporting that Anthropic's compute commitments have ballooned as it races to scale its Claude AI models.reuters

IPO Looms

The abandoned acquisition also arrives at a pivotal moment for Anthropic's corporate trajectory. The company confidentially filed an S-1 with the SEC in June 2026 and is expected to release its IPO prospectus imminently, with a public listing targeted for late September or early October, according to The Information, as reported by Yahoo Finance. CNBC reported in August that the prospectus will list negative AI sentiment as a risk factor.finance.yahoo+1

Whether the decision to scrap the Decart deal reflects a strategic recalibration ahead of the IPO or simply a mismatch uncovered during due diligence remains unclear. Neither Anthropic nor Decart has publicly commented on the matter.