On July 15, it was reported that Google's parent company, Alphabet, is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz, with the deal potentially reaching $23 billion. If the deal goes through, it will be the largest acquisition in Alphabet's history.

Insiders have indicated that the deal could be finalized "soon" if negotiations do not break down. However, many details still need to be discussed, so the outcome of the negotiations remains uncertain.

Alphabet and Wiz have not yet responded to requests for comment.

Wiz, one of the world's fastest-growing startup software companies, offers cloud-based cybersecurity solutions utilizing artificial intelligence for real-time threat detection and response. According to the company's website, Wiz generated approximately $350 million in revenue in 2023 and collaborates with several cloud service providers, including Microsoft and Amazon.

Since its founding in January 2020, Wiz has raised about $2 billion. In a financing round in May this year, Wiz secured $1 billion, raising its valuation to $12 billion and attracting notable investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Thrive Capital.

As the user base for generative AI applications and tools expands, more startups are moving their applications and data to the cloud to train AI models, making the cloud application market increasingly profitable.

Therefore, Alphabet has been increasing its investment in cloud business, including a series of generative AI tools, but still lags behind Microsoft and Amazon in the cloud computing market. The acquisition of Wiz would help strengthen Alphabet's cloud computing capabilities, thereby "closing the gap" with its competitors.

Industry analysts have stated that Google's acquisition of Wiz serves as a "warning" to both Microsoft and Amazon. Wiz's founder and CEO, Assaf Rappaport, a former Microsoft executive, has stated that part of the company's funding would be used for acquisitions. Recently, Wiz acquired cloud threat detection and response company Gem Security.

This deal follows Alphabet's $5.4 billion acquisition of cybersecurity company Mandiant in 2022, making it the company's second-largest acquisition at the time, only behind the $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola in 2012.

However, the U.S. tech industry is currently facing unprecedented antitrust scrutiny.

In recent years, U.S. regulators have frequently cracked down on tech giants acquiring startups in the same industry. The U.S. Department of Justice has twice sued Google on antitrust grounds. Previously, Google had been in talks to acquire sales software maker Hubspot, but that deal seemed to have fallen through.

This time, Alphabet's acquisition appears to be another "unexpected" move.