Key facts
- Anthropic explored acquiring AI chip startup MatX for approximately $7 billion.
- The acquisition aimed to accelerate Anthropic's custom hardware development for its AI business.
- Negotiations have shifted from a potential acquisition to partnership discussions.
- MatX is now seeking new capital at a valuation of around $4 billion.
- MatX was founded by former Google TPU engineers.
Anthropic, a rapidly growing AI company, had been in discussions to acquire the AI chip startup MatX for approximately $7 billion. The potential acquisition was aimed at accelerating Anthropic's efforts to develop custom hardware for its AI business. However, these talks are no longer active, according to sources familiar with the matter. The discussions have reportedly evolved into partnership talks, and MatX is now seeking to raise new capital at a valuation of about $4 billion. MatX was founded by former engineers who previously worked on Google's Tensor Processing Unit (TPU). Anthropic declined to comment on the deal talks, and MatX did not respond to a request for comment.