SAN FRANCISCO, California: AI startup Perplexity has made an unsolicited US$34.5 billion all-cash offer to acquire Alphabet's Chrome browser, a bold move that would see the three-year-old company reach far beyond its own $14 billion valuation to secure one of the most widely used web tools in the world.

Led by CEO Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity has a history of high-profile proposals. In January, it offered to merge with TikTok's U.S. operations to address national security concerns over the app's Chinese ownership. This time, the target is Chrome and its more than three billion users, a potential game-changer in the race to dominate AI-driven search.

Google has not put Chrome up for sale and did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. The company plans to appeal a U.S. court ruling that found it held an unlawful monopoly in online search. As part of that case, the Justice Department has floated the idea of forcing Google to divest Chrome.

Perplexity did not specify how it would finance the offer but said multiple unnamed funds have offered to back the deal in full. The startup has raised about $1 billion from investors, including Nvidia and SoftBank. Alphabet shares rose 1.6 percent on the news.

Perplexity already operates an AI browser called Comet, which is designed to perform tasks for users. Acquiring Chrome would give it instant access to billions of users and strengthen its competitive position against rivals like OpenAI, which is developing its own AI browser.

According to a term sheet seen by Reuters, Perplexity's offer includes keeping Chrome's underlying Chromium code open source, investing $3 billion over two years, and making no changes to its default search engine. The company says the proposal is meant to preserve user choice and address competition concerns.

Analysts are skeptical that Google will sell Chrome willingly, given its importance to the company's AI strategy, which includes rolling out AI-generated search summaries called "Overviews" to protect market share.

Any sales order would face a lengthy legal process. University of Pennsylvania law professor Herbert Hovenkamp noted that U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who is expected to rule on remedies in the Google search antitrust case soon, might delay requiring a divestiture until the appeals process is complete, potentially taking years.

Rival DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg has suggested Chrome could be worth at least $50 billion if Google were compelled to sell, meaning Perplexity's offer may also fall short of market expectations.