Anthropic Drops $6B Decart Acquisition After Due Diligence

Anthropic has pulled out of talks to acquire Israeli AI startup Decart AI, ending a potential $6 billion deal that would have been the Claude-maker’s largest acquisition by a wide margin, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg.

The collapse — confirmed publicly on September 8, 2026 — lands at a delicate moment. Anthropic is reportedly preparing to launch an IPO as early as mid-October 2026, potentially before the U.S. midterm elections in November. A $6 billion acquisition in stock — structured precisely because Decart’s founders were betting on that IPO — is now off the table.

What Was Announced

Anthropic had been exploring a deal and performed due diligence on Decart, but ultimately walked away, according to people who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Representatives for both companies declined to comment.

The companies may still pursue other opportunities to collaborate, one of the people said. That framing — a soft landing rather than a clean break — is standard deal-collapse language, and neither side has elaborated publicly.

Anthropic’s offer was structured primarily in stock rather than cash, valuing Decart at approximately $6 billion — a roughly 50% premium over the startup’s most recent private valuation.

How It Works

Decart builds software that helps AI chips do more with the same underlying hardware, with the goal of reducing the cost of training models and the compute required to run them afterward. That puts the company squarely in the infrastructure layer — not building models, but making the hardware that runs them cheaper to operate.

Decart’s product portfolio extends beyond chip optimization and includes Lucy, a live-video editing model, and Oasis, a simulation platform. The company was founded in 2023 and employs roughly 100 people, according to CTech.

Decart has raised $450 million from investors including Nvidia, Sequoia, Benchmark, Radical, and Zeev Ventures. Nvidia is both an investor and, according to reports, was also a competing acquirer — one Decart’s founders passed over in favor of the Anthropic deal.

What This Means for Users

For Anthropic’s users and enterprise customers, the collapse changes little in the short term. Walking away from the Decart acquisition doesn’t necessarily signal a retreat from chip-efficiency ambitions. Anthropic continues to spend heavily on compute infrastructure, and a collaboration agreement short of acquisition remains possible.

For Decart, the situation is harder. Few potential buyers would be eager to acquire a company that Anthropic examined so closely and ultimately decided not to buy. The founders had also already passed on a competing offer from Nvidia — reportedly a higher bid — specifically to pursue the Anthropic deal in anticipation of Anthropic’s IPO payout.

The specific reasons for Anthropic’s withdrawal remain undisclosed. One possibility is that Anthropic, after gaining detailed understanding of Decart’s technology during due diligence, decided it could develop something similar internally. Another is that geopolitical considerations played a role, including questions surrounding Qatar’s significant investment in Anthropic and the possibility of a Qatari connection to the acquisition of an Israeli company. Neither Anthropic nor Decart has confirmed any explanation.

What’s Next

Anthropic has not provided a public statement or timeline regarding alternative chip-efficiency strategies. Decart’s next steps — whether that means reopening talks with Nvidia, seeking new acquirers, or pursuing an independent path — have not been publicly confirmed. Both companies have declined to comment.

For more on Anthropic’s strategy and product moves, visit the KnowAIData