Anthropic in talks to buy DRAM-less AI inference chips from UK startup Fractile

Anthropic is in early talks to procure AI inference chips from UK startup Fractile, whose SRAM-based Memory Compute Fusion Architecture eliminates external DRAM. Fractile was founded in 2022 by Oxford PhD Walter Goodwin and uses co-located SRAM memory and compute on a single die to avoid data movement bottlenecks. Performance claims include 100x speedup and 10x cost reduction versus existing solutions. Anthropic already runs Claude on Nvidia GPUs, Amazon Trainium, and Google TPUs (with a recently expanded deal for 3.5GW by 2027-2031). Fractile raised $15M seed from Kindred Capital, NATO Innovation Fund, and Oxford Science Enterprises, and is seeking $200M at $1B+ valuation. Chips are not expected until approximately 2027. The move is driven by extreme DRAM pricing and supply shortages.