Anthropic is in talks to acquire Israeli artificial intelligence startup Decart AI for about $6 billion, a deal that could expand the Claude developer’s computing and AI infrastructure capabilities as demand for its models rises.
Reuters reported on Thursday that the potential acquisition, first reported by Bloomberg, would be one of Anthropic’s largest deals and could strengthen the company’s ability to manage growing demand for computing capacity. The talks are ongoing and the deal has not been finalised.
Decart develops software designed to make AI computing more efficient. Its technology can help optimise the use of chips, potentially reducing the computing resources required to train and run AI models. That capability is particularly relevant for Anthropic as the company expands the infrastructure needed to support Claude.
The reported acquisition would also give Anthropic access to Decart’s engineering team and technology. Calcalist reported that Decart had previously been in discussions with Nvidia, while other reports have linked the startup to interest from major technology and infrastructure companies.
Decart was founded in Israel in 2023 and has developed technology spanning AI infrastructure and generative video. Reports said the company raised $300 million in May at a valuation of nearly $4 billion, with Nvidia, Adobe Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Benchmark among its investors.
The reported $6 billion price would therefore represent a substantial increase over Decart’s most recently reported private valuation. It also shows how quickly investors and major AI companies are assigning value to technologies that can improve the efficiency of increasingly expensive AI systems.
For Anthropic, computing efficiency has become a strategic issue as the company competes with OpenAI, Google and other frontier AI developers. Training and serving advanced models requires large quantities of specialised computing infrastructure, making access to chips and the efficient use of those chips increasingly important.
Decart’s technology could potentially help Anthropic improve the performance of AI workloads without relying solely on additional hardware. The companies have not publicly confirmed that an acquisition agreement has been reached, and the reported transaction remains subject to negotiations.
The talks also come as Anthropic expands its own AI capabilities. The company has previously acquired startups to strengthen Claude’s technology. In February, Anthropic announced its acquisition of Vercept, saying the computer-use startup would help advance Claude’s ability to see and interact with software applications.
The Decart discussions could point to a broader change in the AI acquisition market. Instead of acquiring companies only for consumer applications or standalone AI products, major model developers are increasingly looking at technologies that improve inference, computing efficiency and infrastructure.
Generative video could provide another strategic attraction. Decart has developed systems capable of modifying live video and building what it describes as world-model technology, giving the startup capabilities beyond conventional AI infrastructure software. Reports have linked these systems to real-time generative video applications.
The reported acquisition would also deepen Anthropic’s connection to Israel’s AI technology ecosystem. Decart was founded by Israeli engineers, and its development comes from a market that has attracted significant investment in AI, cybersecurity and advanced computing.
For Decart’s investors, a $6 billion transaction would represent a major potential exit only a short time after the company reached its latest private valuation. For Anthropic, the acquisition would be a bet that improving the economics and performance of AI infrastructure is as important as improving the underlying models.
The biggest uncertainty remains whether the talks will produce a completed transaction and at what valuation. Reuters said the discussions are ongoing, meaning the reported $6 billion figure should not be treated as the final purchase price.
If completed, the deal would give Anthropic another technology and engineering asset as it prepares for the next phase of AI expansion. The immediate next step is whether the two companies reach a definitive agreement.
Filed by
Startup Unplugged