Anthropic Drops $6B Deal to Acquire AI Startup Decart

Anthropic has walked away from negotiations to acquire Israeli artificial intelligence startup Decart in a transaction valued at approximately $6 billion, according to a Bloomberg report. The collapse ends what would have been the largest acquisition in the Claude maker's history by a wide margin, arriving as the artificial intelligence developer reportedly prepares for an initial public offering in the fall of 2026.

Chip-Optimization Technology and Decart's Growth

Founded in September 2023, Decart specializes in chip-optimization software designed for AI inference. The startup's technology targets video generation, robotics simulation, and autonomous systems, aiming to reduce the computational overhead required to run complex neural networks.

Prior to the acquisition talks, Decart raised approximately $450 million in total funding. This capital included a $300 million funding round that closed in May 2026 at a company valuation of around $4 billion, drawing backing from prominent institutional investors, including Nvidia. Founder ownership remained heavily concentrated throughout these rounds, with Decart's three co-founders retaining roughly 64% of the company's equity.

Strategic Implications for Anthropic's IPO Timeline

The abandoned $6 billion transaction leaves Anthropic without its intended expansion into specialized inference hardware optimization. Major AI laboratories have increasingly pursued vertical integration, acquiring specialized infrastructure and algorithm startups to secure compute capacity and lower inference costs.

Decart's high valuation, jumping from a $4 billion price tag in May to a rumored $6 billion acquisition target just months later, reflects aggressive bidding for top-tier infrastructure talent and proprietary efficiency software. With the talks now terminated, Anthropic turns its focus back to internal scaling and its reported upcoming public market debut, navigating a competitive sector where compute efficiency remains a central metric for enterprise profitability.