Anthropic planned a $7bn takeover of chip startup MatX, then walked away

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August 28, 2026, 9:53 AM

• •Reuters reported that Anthropic had planned a roughly $7 billion acquisition of MatX, citing unnamed sources.
• •The acquisition talks were later said to have evolved into discussions about a partnership rather than a takeover.
• •MatX was founded in 2023 by Reiner Pope and Mike Gunter, both associated with Google's TPU work.
• •MatX raised a $500 million Series B in February and was reportedly seeking funding at about a $4 billion valuation.
• •Anthropic has been building its own chip capabilities and has also reportedly discussed manufacturing a custom chip with Samsung.

Anthropic reportedly explored acquiring AI chip startup MatX for roughly $7 billion before the talks stopped advancing. Reuters said the discussions later shifted toward a possible partnership, though neither company has publicly confirmed any agreement. MatX was founded by former Google TPU leaders and is developing chips focused on large language model training rather than general-purpose computing. The episode highlights how major AI labs are increasingly trying to build alternatives to Nvidia by securing specialized chip talent and supply.

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