Key "Strengthening" Before IPO? Rumor Has It That Anthropic Is in Talks for a $6 Billion Acquisition of Decart AI, Targeting Optimization of AI Computing Power Efficiency

According to Zhitong Finance APP, with only a few weeks left before its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO), artificial intelligence giant Anthropic PBC is accelerating its efforts to strengthen its technological moat through acquisitions. According to sources familiar with the matter, the AI star company is in advanced talks to acquire Israeli AI infrastructure startup Decart AI at a deal valuation of about $6 billion. If finalized, this acquisition would mark the largest M&A deal in Anthropic’s history and its most crucial “technological reinforcement” prior to IPO—a notable twist being that Nvidia was originally the potential buyer, but was overtaken by Anthropic in the final stages of negotiation.

Decart AI: A Rising Israeli Star Making Chips “Run Faster”

Decart AI was founded in Israel in 2023 by brothers Dean Leitersdorf, Orian Leitersdorf, and Moshe Shalev. The core competency of this startup lies in maximizing the operational efficiency of various types of chips—its software can optimize AI model training and inference processes, helping developers extract more computing power from existing hardware.

Technical Layout:

Chip Performance Optimization Layer: Enables AI developers to run models efficiently on all kinds of chips, from Nvidia to AMD, which is of great strategic value amid today’s compute shortage;

Generative Video and “World Models”: Capable of real-time modification of live video streams, showcasing its high-quality infrastructure talent pool.

Financing Trajectory and Valuation Leap: In May this year, Decart just completed a $300 million financing round led by Radical Ventures, with participation from Nvidia, Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, and Adobe Ventures, and a post-investment valuation of nearly $4 billion. This means that in just three months, Anthropic’s bid has raised Decart’s valuation by 50%.

Even more dramatically, Decart was originally close to a sale agreement with Nvidia. But as negotiations neared the end, another, “larger” buyer stepped in, prompting the founders to pivot. The industry widely speculates this last-moment winner is Anthropic.

Anthropic’s Strategic Logic: “Last Mile” Reinforcement Pre-IPO

If this $6 billion acquisition goes through, it holds threefold strategic value for Anthropic:

First, the “leverage effect” in compute efficiency. Anthropic has already pledged to invest tens of billions of dollars into data centers equipped with expensive chips. Decart’s optimization technology can allow existing infrastructure to carry greater demand. In a chip-supply-constrained world, this effectively adds “leverage” to Anthropic’s compute investments. Decart’s team is expected to be integrated into Anthropic’s inference and performance organization.

Second, valuation “support” ahead of IPO. Anthropic plans to go public in September or early October, targeting a valuation of $965 billion to $1 trillion. Completing a high-profile strategic acquisition on the eve of IPO helps present public market investors with a more comprehensive “AI full-stack” narrative.

Third, differentiation in the competition with OpenAI. While OpenAI continues to compete on scale, Anthropic is choosing to build barriers on the dimension of efficiency. Decart’s ability to “deliver higher performance on the same chips” complements Anthropic’s philosophy of “safe and controllable” technology.

IPO Countdown: “Stress Test” for a Trillion-Dollar Valuation

The countdown for Anthropic’s IPO has entered its final sprint. The company has already confidentially submitted a draft S-1 filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Prediction market platform Kalshi shows that traders now estimate an 85% probability that Anthropic will announce its listing in 2026.

However, the “stress test” for the trillion-dollar valuation has already revealed cracks in pre-IPO investor meetings. Investors are sharply focused on three major questions: the competitive threat from low-cost Chinese AI systems; tensions between Anthropic and the Trump administration; and the sobering example of SpaceX, whose stock price plunged from $225 to $108 after its listing.

Industry Perspective: Foundation Model Companies Rush to Acquire “Efficiency Layer” Assets

Anthropic’s pursuit of Decart reflects a deeper trend in the AI industry: foundation model companies are racing to acquire inference and efficiency capabilities, rather than relying solely on internal development. As AI models grow ever larger and compute costs remain high, “efficiency” is becoming as important a competitive dimension as “performance.”

At the same time, both OpenAI and Anthropic have pledged to invest tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars in building data centers. Under this enormous capital expenditure pressure, acquiring companies to increase the utilization efficiency of existing infrastructure is emerging as a more cost-effective approach.

Nvidia was originally both an investor and a potential buyer for Decart but was “outbid” by Anthropic in the final stages of negotiation. This highlights a deeper trend: AI model developers are actively building their own technology stacks, rather than simply relying on chip suppliers.

As compute scale competition becomes increasingly homogeneous, “how to use compute more efficiently” is becoming the core competitive advantage for AI companies. The Decart acquisition marks the official opening salvo in the AI efficiency war.

Of course, this deal is still subject to change—sources note that the negotiations haven’t yet been finalized and may still fall through. But for Anthropic, aiming for a trillion-dollar IPO, acquiring Decart AI is not just a business decision—it’s an “IPO declaration” demonstrating the company’s technological ambition to the market.