Dhaka, March 20 -- OpenAI announced on Thursday that it is acquiring Astral, a prominent Python toolmaker, as part of its strategy to expand its AI coding offerings and compete more effectively with Anthropic. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition will integrate Astral's suite of developer tools into OpenAI's AI coding platform, Codex, which was launched last year and has grown to over 2 million weekly active users-a threefold increase in users and a fivefold rise in usage since the start of the year.

Astral has established itself as a key player in the Python community, offering tools that enhance speed and reliability in Python development. Astral CEO Charlie Marsh stated that the company will continue supp...