Anthropic held talks to acquire robotics startup Physical Intelligence
Recent acquisition discussions between Anthropic and the well-funded robotics startup Physical Intelligence highlight the escalating battle for physical-world AI capabilities ahead of anticipated public listings.
Anthropic held acquisition talks earlier this year with Physical Intelligence, a prominent robotics startup. The discussions surfaced recently amid market speculation, even though Physical Intelligence’s chief executive dismissed the reports via an internal messaging platform.
Physical Intelligence is no minor player in the sector. Co-founded by investor-operator Lachy Groom alongside former Google researchers and academics from Stanford and Berkeley, the San Francisco-based company has raised over $1 billion. It was reportedly negotiating an additional $1 billion funding round this spring at an $11 billion valuation.
The pursuit of robotics expertise reflects a broader strategic shift in artificial intelligence development. Industry leaders increasingly view physical-world understanding as a prerequisite for superintelligent systems, recognizing that internet text alone cannot bridge this gap. Acquiring an established team would allow Anthropic to bypass years of foundational hardware research.
Unlike its chief rival, Anthropic has not constructed a dedicated hardware laboratory. Instead, it has focused on safety research, such as Project Fetch, which tested the Claude model’s ability to assist non-experts in programming a robot dog. A subsequent phase in June demonstrated that a newer model completed these tasks roughly 20 times faster than the previous year’s best human-assisted effort.
OpenAI has taken a more direct approach to the physical realm. After shutting down its robotics group in 2021, the company re-established a humanoid robotics lab in San Francisco in 2024. Chief Executive Sam Altman recently confirmed the initiative, outlining a near-term focus on infrastructure robots and a long-term ambition to provide a personal robot for everyone.
These maneuvers occur as both companies prepare for historic public debuts. Anthropic confidentially filed for an initial public offering on June 1, with OpenAI following a week later. Aggressive acquisition sprees are central to their strategies, with Anthropic making four known purchases this year and OpenAI acquiring at least 17 companies since 2023 to convert model capabilities into enterprise revenue.
However, Anthropic’s potential path to acquiring Physical Intelligence faces a significant structural hurdle. OpenAI is already an investor in the robotics startup, alongside prominent firms such as Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Founders Fund.
This overlapping ownership raises critical questions for investors and markets. OpenAI’s early financial backing may have included protective provisions, such as information rights or a right of first refusal regarding any sale to a direct competitor. If Physical Intelligence is genuinely seeking an exit, OpenAI may possess a stronger contractual claim to the asset than Anthropic.
