Anthropic planned, then abandoned $7 billion purchase of MatX

Anthropic discussed buying artificial intelligence chip startup MatX for roughly $7 billion, seeking to accelerate efforts to develop custom hardware for ​its fast-growing AI business, two people briefed on the matter told ​Reuters.

The merger talks, which a third person said have evolved into a discussion about a partnership, underscore the AI lab’s ambition ​to secure the resources and talent needed to build its own chips. The goal is to help Anthropic accelerate its in-house chip development.