Anthropic bails on $6 billion Decart AI acquisition ahead of planned IPO. Anthropic has abandoned plans to acquire artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure startup Decart AI in a deal previously pegged at about $6 billion. The decision comes after the Claude chatbot creator performed extensive due diligence on the Israeli-founded company. While the acquisition talks have dissolved, the two firms may still pursue alternative commercial partnerships, according to Bloomberg. "Walking away sets a ceiling on what a frontier lab will pay to own compute efficiency instead of contracting for it. Efficiency gains at the silicon and inference layer move fast enough that acquiring them outright locks in today's constraint at tomorrow's price," said Mitch Ashley, vice president and practice lead for Software Lifecycle Engineering and AI-Native Software Engineering at The Futurum Group. "Watch whether the two sign a commercial agreement instead. That is the real tell," Ashley said. "Enterprises signing multi-year AI commitments should treat vendor cost curves as provisional and price the option to move." Representatives for Anthropic and Decart declined to issue official statements. "We don't know exactly why Anthropic walked away. But because it happened after due diligence, it's reasonable to assume that something about the tech, economics, team, or fit did not support the price," said Stephanie Walter, practice leader for AI Stack & Enterprise Application Development at HyperFRAME Research. "Notice that the companies may still work together. This suggests Anthropic may see value in Decart's technology while deciding it doesn't need to own the company." "To me, the interesting piece is that model companies are looking across the AI stack for ways to improve their economics," Walter said. "Building a better model is only part of the challenge. Running it efficiently and reliably matters too." The multibillion-dollar deal was originally designed to enhance Anthropic's computing efficiency as the company scales operations to meet skyrocketing enterprise demand. Decart, which was valued at nearly $4 billion following a $300 million funding round in May backed by NVIDIA Corp., Sequoia Capital, and Benchmark, specializes in chip-optimization software. Its proprietary Decart Optimization Stack (DOS) allows AI models to run more efficiently across varied hardware platforms, including chips from NVIDIA, Amazon.com Inc., and Google. Decart also develops advanced world models such as Oasis and Lucy, the latter capable of real-time video transformation for e-commerce, gaming, and livestreaming applications on platforms like eBay Inc., TikTok, and YouTube. Under CEO Dario Amodei, Anthropic has historically shied away from large-scale corporate acquisitions, choosing instead to channel capital directly into raw computing infrastructure. Ahead of a highly anticipated initial public offering, the San Francisco-based firm has been securing massive multibillion-dollar cloud computing and data-center capacity agreements - including recent commitments with Lambda, Nscale, Fluidstack, and SpaceX - as it seeks to achieve a market valuation on par with top-tier technology giants. The breakdown of the acquisition underscores broader macroeconomic and regulatory headwinds facing high-stakes AI transactions. Cross-border acquisitions involving critical semiconductor capabilities, advanced algorithm optimization, and foreign technology transfer face elevated oversight from international regulatory bodies. Decart's roots in Israel and its focus on underlying chip infrastructure made the prospective transaction a target for potential national security and foreign investment reviews. Furthermore, the failed transaction unfolds alongside ongoing friction between Anthropic and U.S. defense officials. Although Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently indicated that Anthropic had resolved previous disputes with the federal administration, military leadership maintains a cautious stance. Anthropic previously won a court ruling against the military after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth restricted the firm from select defense contracts over Anthropic's refusal to allow its Claude models to be deployed for domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weaponry. Despite the court victory, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael confirmed on social media that the Defense Department's designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk remains active across the department and the broader defense industrial base. As Anthropic shifts its focus back toward organic expansion, the company continues its preparations for a public listing targeted ahead of the upcoming U.S. midterm elections, prioritizing massive computational footprint expansions over direct strategic acquisitions.

Anthropic withdraws from $6B Decart acquisition on September 8, 2026. 2026-09-07 20:45:39 Key takeaways. * Anthropic withdrew from acquiring Israeli AI startup Decart in a roughly $6 billion deal on September 8, 2026. * Decart raised approximately $450 million in total funding, with a $300 million round in May 2026 valuing the company at around $4 billion. * Anthropic has been preparing for a potential public listing as early as September or October 2026. Anthropic withdrew from negotiations to acquire Israeli AI startup Decart in a deal valued at roughly $6 billion, ending talks that surfaced on September 8, 2026. The withdrawal leaves what would have been Anthropic's largest acquisition by a wide margin on the cutting room floor. Anthropic is reportedly eyeing an IPO as soon as this fall, though specific reasons for the deal's collapse remain undisclosed. Decart is an AI startup founded in September 2023 that builds chip-optimization software designed to make AI inference - the process of running trained models - significantly more efficient. The company's focus areas span generative video, robotics simulation, and autonomous systems. All three are compute-hungry domains where reducing processing costs can translate into substantial savings at scale. Decart raises $450 million in May 2026 round. Decart raised approximately $450 million in total funding, with a $300 million round closing in May 2026 that valued the company at around $4 billion. Nvidia was among the prominent backers in that round. Decart's three founders still retain roughly 64% ownership of the company, giving them significant leverage in deal negotiations. Anthropic offers $6 billion stock-based deal by mid-august 2026. The acquisition talks had progressed to an advanced stage by mid-August 2026. Anthropic's offer was structured primarily in stock rather than cash, valuing Decart at approximately $6 billion. That represented a roughly 50% premium over Decart's most recent private valuation. Reports indicate that Nvidia, already an investor in Decart, had put forward its own offer that was considered more financially attractive. Decart's founders reportedly chose to pursue the Anthropic deal instead, passing on Nvidia's bid. Anthropic withdraws from acquisition on September 8, 2026. Anthropic walked away from the deal, with the withdrawal surfacing on September 8, 2026. The specific reasons for the withdrawal remain undisclosed. Anthropic has been preparing for a public listing potentially as early as September or October 2026. Closing a $6 billion stock-based acquisition right before going public could dilute existing shareholders, complicate the company's financial narrative for prospective public market investors, and introduce integration risk. For Decart, the company sits on a fresh $300 million in funding, retains majority founder control, and operates in a market segment where demand for inference efficiency is growing. The situation with Nvidia's interest remains unclear. Faq. What did Anthropic do on September 8, 2026? Anthropic withdrew from negotiations to acquire Israeli AI startup Decart in a deal valued at roughly $6 billion. The withdrawal surfaced on September 8, 2026, ending what would have been Anthropic's largest acquisition. How much funding has Decart raised? Decart raised approximately $450 million in total, with a $300 million round closing in May 2026 that valued the company at around $4 billion. Nvidia was among the prominent backers in that round. Decart's three founders retain roughly 64% ownership of the company. Disclaimer: The information on this page may come from third-party sources and is for reference only. It does not represent the views or opinions of Gate and does not constitute any financial, investment, or legal advice. Virtual asset trading involves high risk. Please do not rely solely on the information on this page when making decisions. For details, see the Disclaimer.

Anthropic's $7 billion Decart deal puts a spotlight on its little-known 23-year-old co-founder and chief scientist. Orian Leitersdorf has largely remained out of the spotlight as his brother Dean and Moshe Shalev built Decart into one of Israel's most closely watched AI startups. Now, the proposed acquisition could make all three founders billionaires and give the 23-year-old scientist a role inside one of the world's leading AI companies. 20:44, 16.08.26 Anthropic's potential $7 billion acquisition of Israeli AI startup Decart would be one of the biggest deals in the country's technology industry. It would also bring new attention to the company's least-known founder, 23-year-old Orian Leitersdorf. Leitersdorf is Decart's chief scientist and the younger brother of CEO and co-founder Dean Leitersdorf, who has been the public face of the company alongside co-founder Moshe Shalev. Orian, by contrast, has largely remained out of the spotlight. His academic record is difficult to overlook. He studied electrical and computer engineering at the Technion and last year, at the age of 22, became the youngest student in the institution's history to complete a doctorate. The previous record was held by his older brother Dean. Now Orian is part of a company that Anthropic is preparing to acquire for approximately $7 billion. The deal is nearing the signing stage, with Anthropic and Decart exchanging advanced drafts of an agreement, although no transaction has yet been signed. Most of the consideration is expected to be paid in Anthropic shares. Market estimates suggest that, if the transaction is completed, each of Decart's founders could ultimately receive more than $1 billion. The potential acquisition has put Decart at the center of an increasingly intense contest among some of the world's largest technology companies. Decart has attracted investment from Nvidia, which was also in advanced negotiations to acquire the company before Anthropic emerged with its offer. Nvidia is believed to have offered a higher valuation, but Decart's shareholders preferred Anthropic. The proposed transaction would value Decart at roughly $7 billion, about 50% above the $4 billion valuation at which it raised its latest funding round only months ago. Founded in 2023, Decart employs about 100 people and has raised $450 million. Its technology is designed to improve the efficiency of AI computing, including by increasing the performance of GPUs and other chips. Industry estimates suggest that its technology can allow AI models to run substantially faster, potentially reducing the enormous computing costs facing AI companies as demand for inference grows. Decart has also developed technology for generating video in real time, with potential applications ranging from gaming to physical AI and robotics. Those capabilities are increasingly relevant to Anthropic as the AI industry moves beyond the race to build ever-larger models and toward the challenge of running those models efficiently at enormous scale.