Anthropic is in talks to acquire AI startup Decart for about $6 billion, per Bloomberg. Decart builds inference infrastructure for AI video generation, a capability Anthropic lacks.
Key facts
- $6B – reported acquisition price for Decart
- Decart founded in 2023, raised $100M+
- Anthropic's largest acquisition, surpassing Gloo and Rockset deals
- Decart specializes in inference for AI video, including Loopy model
- Deal not confirmed; talks could collapse
Anthropic is in talks to acquire Decart, an AI startup specializing in inference infrastructure for video generation, for approximately $6 billion, according to people familiar with the matter According to Bloomberg. The deal would be Anthropic's largest acquisition to date, dwarfing its earlier purchases of Gloo and Rockset.
Decart, founded in 2023, has built a niche in optimizing inference for AI video models, including the open-source model Loopy. The startup has raised over $100 million from investors including Sequoia Capital and GV. Its technology focuses on reducing the compute cost of running video models, a key bottleneck for scaling generative video.
The acquisition would give Anthropic control over an inference stack that currently leans heavily on Nvidia GPUs and cloud providers like AWS and Google Cloud. This vertical integration mirrors moves by competitors: OpenAI has invested in its own chip efforts, and Google uses its TPUs. Anthropic's recent work on model-level watermarks and agentic systems suggests a broader push to differentiate on deployment efficiency.
Key Takeaways
- Anthropic is in talks to buy Decart for $6B, its largest deal, targeting video inference infrastructure.
- The move signals vertical integration strategy.
Why $6 Billion Makes Sense
The price tag reflects the strategic value of inference optimization, not just Decart's revenue, which is undisclosed. With AI video generation exploding, the ability to serve models cheaply at scale is a competitive edge. Anthropic's own models, like Claude Opus 4.6, are text-focused, but the company has signaled interest in multimodal capabilities.
However, the deal is not without risk. Decart's technology is relatively young, and the video inference market is crowded with players like Runway and Pika. Anthropic will need to integrate Decart's team and tech without disrupting its core research focus.
Deal Details and Next Steps
Neither Anthropic nor Decart has publicly commented. The talks are ongoing, and the deal could still fall apart, as Bloomberg notes. If completed, it would signal Anthropic's intent to own more of its infrastructure, a theme echoed by Intel's recent push into AI data center chips [per our prior coverage].
What to watch
Watch for official confirmation from Anthropic or Decart, and the regulatory review if the deal closes. Also track Anthropic's next earnings or funding round to see how it finances the $6B price tag, and whether competitors like OpenAI respond with similar infrastructure acquisitions.
Source: bloomberg.com
