Perplexity AI made a $34.5 billion unsolicited all-cash offer for Alphabet's Chrome browser on Tuesday, a bid far above its own valuation as the startup reaches for the browser's billions of users pivotal to the AI search race.

Many see Perplexity’s bid to buy Google’s Chrome browser as a strategic statement rather than a likely transaction.

In a surprise move, Perplexity AI made an unsolicited $34.5 billion bid to buy Google’s Chrome, coming as a legal ruling is pending in an antitrust case the internet giant lost that could force it to divest the browser.