Anthropic's US offices. [AP]
Anthropic's US offices. [AP]

Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI model, is in talks to acquire Israeli AI startup Descartes AI for as much as $6 billion ahead of its initial public offering — a price that would represent a premium of more than 50 percent over the startup's valuation just three months ago. The move is widely read as an effort to strengthen computing power and model performance simultaneously, two factors central to the AI race.

Bloomberg and Reuters reported Wednesday that Anthropic has begun discussions to acquire Descartes AI. Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, said the deal could be worth up to $6 billion.

The talks are at an early stage and final terms could change. If the deal closes, Descartes AI staff are expected to join Anthropic's inference and performance organization.

Descartes AI holds technology designed not only to run AI models but to do so faster and at lower cost. The company has developed an optimization software stack called DOS, which improves the computational efficiency of AI chips.

As generative AI drives up computing costs for model training and inference, technology that extracts more performance from the same semiconductors is becoming increasingly valuable — and that is precisely what draws Anthropic to Descartes AI.

The startup also has strengths in video generation and world-model technology. Its AI model Lucy can edit live video footage in real time.

Another model, Oasis, generates virtual environments for training and testing robots and autonomous driving systems. World models — which enable AI to understand and predict real-world physical environments — are considered one of the core technologies in the coming competition over robotics, autonomous driving and physical AI.

Global investors have already placed bets on Descartes AI's capabilities. The company raised $300 million in a funding round led by Radical Ventures in May, securing a valuation of $4 billion. Nvidia joined as a new investor in that round.

If Anthropic acquires the company at $6 billion, it would be paying $2 billion more than Descartes AI's most recent valuation — a gap that opened in just three months.

The potential acquisition comes as Anthropic accelerates its AI infrastructure build-out in preparation for an IPO.

With users of generative AI services, including chatbots, growing rapidly, AI companies are competing aggressively to secure vast computing resources. As model performance improves, more processing power is needed not only for training but also for inference — the process of responding to user queries.

Anthropic has been working to expand its computing capacity and ease service constraints in response to rising demand for Claude. Acquiring Descartes AI's chip-optimization technology could help the company make more efficient use of its existing computing infrastructure.

Reuters characterized the acquisition talks as part of Anthropic's preparations for a large-scale IPO, describing the move as an effort to aggressively expand computing power and overcome limitations on service capacity.


sjy@heraldcorp.com