Anthropic Abandons $7 Billion MatX Acquisition for Partnership

Anthropic abandoned plans to acquire AI chip startup MatX for approximately $7 billion, shifting its strategy toward a potential partnership instead. The move is part of a broader effort by the AI laboratory to secure the talent and resources necessary to develop in-house custom hardware for its AI business.

MatX, founded by former Google tensor processing unit engineers, is now seeking new capital at a valuation of roughly $4 billion. To support its hardware ambitions, Anthropic has hired Google chip veteran Amir Salek and former OpenAI engineer Clive Chan.

These developments occur as competitors accelerate their own hardware efforts. OpenAI recently showcased its Jalapeno chip, designed for inference calculations to outperform Nvidia processors. While Anthropic may pursue inference hardware, sources indicate the company is specifically interested in producing a training chip.