Your Code Is Too Slow: Anthropic Takes The Lead

What happened

AI leader Anthropic acquired Bun, a next-generation JavaScript runtime known for exceptional speed. A runtime is the engine that executes code after it's been written. When Claude Code generates JavaScript, that code needs to be run somewhere, and the runtime determines how fast and efficiently that happens. Bun dramatically outperforms incumbent runtimes like Node.js, sometimes by 3-5x on key operations. The acquisition is designed to protect and enhance Anthropic's most valuable commercial asset: Claude Code, its dedicated AI coding assistant.

The insight for this note came directly from our in-house software development team and CTO. In the asset management world, having an internal CTO and engineering capability is uncommon, but it's precisely this resource that allowed us to recognize the strategic significance of this acquisition before mainstream coverage caught up. Our team  immediately recognized that in a hyper-iterative development environment, where AI agents continuously generate, execute, test, and refine code, the speed of the execution layer is decisive. A fraction of a second saved on each cycle compounds into significant cost savings and a faster, more reliable product.

Impact on our Investment Case

Why this should concern rivals

This acquisition is a strategic masterstroke reminiscent of Nvidia's approach with CUDA. Nvidia made its chips dominant not just by superior hardware, but by building a proprietary software layer that makes its GPUs uniquely easy and efficient to program. Anthropic is executing the same lock-in strategy at the software layer: by owning both the AI model (Claude) and the runtime (Bun), it ensures that Claude-generated code runs optimally on its own infrastructure.

This creates a defensibility moat that competitors focused solely on model performance cannot easily replicate. OpenAI, Alphabet, and others are racing to improve their models' coding capabilities, but if the code generated by Claude runs faster and more reliably because Anthropic controls the execution environment, the competition becomes asymmetric. The AI war is no longer just about building the smartest algorithm, rather it is increasingly about owning the most efficient, vertically-integrated platform.

Investment implications

We see this deal as favorable for companies supplying foundational compute and those positioned in the AI orchestration layer. Cloud and compute providers such as Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft stand to benefit, as faster AI agent stacks drive increased consumption of cloud resources. Hardware accelerators including Nvidia and Broadcom should also see sustained demand as improved code execution efficiency enables more complex workloads.

Enterprise software platforms like Salesforce and ServiceNow, which are integrating AI-driven automation, may find it easier to deploy reliable agents at scale. Meanwhile, companies offering workflow management and observability tools, such as Snowflake, Datadog or Atlassian, are well positioned as AI-generated code requires robust governance, monitoring, and data infrastructure.

On the other side, legacy IT service firms and traditional enterprise software vendors with older, monolithic architectures may face pressure. The high-speed agent stack could reduce the time and manpower needed for large-scale enterprise projects, challenging time-based billing models. Fragmented developer tool providers (think Github) may also see commoditization as all-in-one solutions gain traction.

How our internal R&D informed this view

For over ten years, Atonra has invested in building in-house software development and R&D capabilities. Over the last three years, we have expanded this capacity significantly. This is not a cost center, it's an intelligence advantage. Our engineering team is fluent in modern execution techniques, which we already apply to systems like fundy.fun and our proprietary internal platforms.

This technical fluency allows us to identify infrastructure-level shifts before they become mainstream investment narratives. When news of the Anthropic/Bun deal broke, our CTO immediately flagged it as strategically significant. Not because of the headline, but because our team understands firsthand how execution speed compounds in agent-driven development workflows. This is the kind of foresight that comes from building software, not just analyzing companies that do.

We have been overweighting software in our AI & Robotics strategy for the past 18 months, reflecting our conviction that the enabling infrastructure (the "software stack") is where durable value is being created. This acquisition is consistent with that thesis.

Our Takeaway

The Anthropic/Bun acquisition is not a niche developer story: it is an architectural shift that defines a new competitive landscape. 

By securing Bun, Anthropic has built one of the first major infrastructure moats for the era of autonomous, agent-driven software development. The most valuable technology is now the one that makes AI agents themselves the most productive, and that means controlling the full stack, from model to runtime.

For investors, this reinforces the case for companies building foundational AI infrastructure rather than those competing purely on model benchmarks. And for us, it confirms the value of the investments we've made in our own technical capabilities.