In Silicon Valley, staying ahead of the competition is the most important goal. If you’re Apple or Meta and you’re low on personnel or can’t produce the technology in-house, the traditional strategy is to spend heavily. That typically entails acquiring a successful company, bringing in the team behind the product, and integrating it into your core products or providing the founders enough autonomy to continue inventing within your brand. Many Silicon Valley companies have taken this approach.
The interest from both huge Silicon Valley companies raises an important question: Why are they looking at a much smaller startup like Perplexity?
Last week, Apple and Meta made headlines for their interest in acquiring Perplexity AI, a renowned AI business created by Arvind Srinivas, an Indian-origin computer scientist. While large Silicon Valley firms frequently work behind the scenes to quietly pursue startups they are interested in, this time, two tech titans are investigating Perplexity. The timing makes it even more intriguing, particularly in the case of Apple, which traditionally avoids hiring outside experts and prefers to develop competitive technology in-house.
Also Read: How Perplexity’s New AI Video Tool Changes How You Make Content
What do the latest reports say about the Perplexity AI in 2025?
Meta was first rumored to have approached Perplexity about a possible buyout before the business invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI. Unsurprisingly, another rumor stated that Apple was also interested in the San Francisco-based AI startup. It is unclear whether Perplexity is for sale, whether Meta or Apple has initiated official conversations to acquire the company, or how near either is to completing a transaction. It’s uncertain until one of them makes a formal declaration.
Apple’s participation in Meta’s shopping spree is intriguing. It might mark a watershed moment in Cupertino’s AI strategy, as many had predicted following the company’s dismal AI performance at its last developers’ conference. The rationale could be that this burgeoning AI darling has the potential to boost its AI goals in the escalating competition with Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
What’s next for Perplexity AI after big Company Interest?
Perplexity AI is on the radar of both Meta and Apple, indicating that both corporations want to purchase the Arvind Srinivas-led startup. Meta has previously been in talks to acquire the company, demonstrating how highly it regards Perplexity’s potential. Meta sees the acquisition as strategically essential in developing its Meta AI assistant, which now serves over a billion monthly active users across the company’s family of apps, by making it more personalized and customized for voice-based interactions.