Anthropic Walks Away From $7B MatX Acquisition
Synopsis
Anthropic reportedly dropped plans to acquire AI chip startup MatX for $7 billion, with the companies now exploring a potential chip design partnership.
Anthropic MatX acquisition talks have ended after the AI company considered buying chip startup MatX for about $7 billion. The offer was linked with Anthropic's efforts to ramp up the capacity of its custom hardware as demand rises.
The firms are now discussing a possible partnership, as opposed to a merger, but the reasons for canceling the proposed buy were not shared.
MatX Valuation Falls Below Proposed Deal Size
The acquisition would've been a high price tag compared to MatX's fundraising target. The startup is looking for new capital at a valuation of approximately $4 billion.
The AI Chip startup was founded by Google engineers who left the company to develop Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs, processors that Google developed for specific AI applications. Anthropic has been working on its hardware development as well as obtaining chips and computing infrastructure from partners such as Google and Nvidia.
The acquisition talks have coincided with a rapid rise in the company's finances. Revenue run rate at end July $65 billion, May $47 billion, end 2025 about $9 billion.
AI Spending Pushes Demand for Computing
In May, Anthropic raised $65 billion for a post-money valuation of $965 billion. The company is also considering plans for significant additional computing power such as a rumored $45 billion deal with Nscale to provide six years of cloud computing capacity.
It also follows a significant surge in global investments in AI. Gartner predicts spending on AI to reach USD 2.59 trillion in 2026, a 47% increase over 2025.
That investment is concentrated, shown by the Stanford HAI's 2026 AI Index Report. In 2025, the value of private investments in US AI reached $285.9 billion, over 23 times that of China's investments of $12.4 billion, and worldwide corporate investments in AI totaled more than $580 billion.
The numbers point to a far greater investment cycle for chip supplies and computing capacity, which includes AI software, data centres and dedicated hardware for businesses in the US and Australia.
Source: Reuters
Pooja Malik is a business journalist with over six years of experience covering startups, entrepreneurship, and emerging trends. She has previously worked with leading media platforms such as YourStory Media and BW BusinessWorld, where she reported on business, policy, and market developments. Currently, she serves as Editor at The Inspirepreneur Magazine, where she writes and edits stories across business, lifestyle, and travel, with a focus on clarity, accuracy, and reader relevance.
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