Amazon in Talks to Acquire AI Startup Decart for Roughly $7 Billion
The potential deal would help Amazon optimize workloads for its Trainium3 chips and compete directly against Nvidia in cloud AI infrastructure.
In short
- Amazon is discussing a potential takeover of Israeli-founded AI startup Decart for approximately $7 billion.
- Decart develops software called DOS that cuts the time required to optimize AI models for specific chips from months to weeks.
- The acquisition would support Amazon Web Services' proprietary Trainium3 processor initiative and reduce dependence on Nvidia.
- Prior acquisition efforts by Nvidia and Anthropic collapsed earlier this year before Amazon emerged as the leading suitor.
Amazon.com Inc. is in negotiations to acquire artificial intelligence startup Decart.ai Inc. in a transaction that could value the company at approximately $7 billion, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and SiliconANGLE. People familiar with the discussions indicated that an agreement could be signed in the coming days, though talks could still fall apart or be interrupted if a rival bidder emerges.
Neither Amazon nor Decart has publicly confirmed an agreement. If completed, the acquisition would represent one of Amazon's largest corporate transactions to date, helping cloud division Amazon Web Services (AWS) compete more aggressively against Nvidia by strengthening software support for Amazon's proprietary Trainium processors.
Decart DOS and Chip Portability Software
Founded in 2023 by Israeli software engineers Dean Leitersdorf, Orian Leitersdorf, and Moshe Shalev, Decart specializes in systems that streamline how AI workloads run across varied hardware architectures. The startup's flagship software platform, named DOS, optimizes neural networks to execute efficiently on specific AI chips, according to reporting by SiliconANGLE.
In standard engineering workflows, adapting an AI model for an alternative processor often demands several months of low-level optimization. DOS compresses that process down to a couple of weeks, allowing enterprise customers to switch workloads between hardware vendors when chip shortages or economic constraints require flexibility, as reported by SiliconANGLE and Calcalist.
Beyond hardware optimization, Decart also builds generative world simulation models. The company developed Oasis, an interactive model that generates playable simulated environments and video in real time as users interact with it, as well as Lucy, a tool capable of real-time video editing, according to Calcalist. These systems are designed to simulate three-dimensional environments for applications such as robotics training and interactive entertainment.
The Strategic Fit for Amazon's Trainium3 Hardware
The planned purchase aligns with Amazon's push to drive customer adoption of its in-house silicon. Amazon has been developing custom Trainium processors as alternatives to Nvidia graphics processing units to compete with Nvidia and reduce reliance on its hardware, according to Calcalist and PYMNTS.
Amazon already maintains close institutional ties with Decart. AWS granted the startup early access to its Trainium3 processor in 2025 after senior AWS engineers met with Decart's technical founders, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Amazon subsequently became an active commercial customer of Decart as the startup scaled its AI infrastructure offerings, according to Calcalist.
A Complex Sale Process After Nvidia and Anthropic Bids
The discussions follow a volatile sequence of takeover attempts across the industry over the past several months, as reported by Calcalist.
Nvidia initially pursued an acquisition of Decart and came close to finalizing a transaction in August 2026 before a rival proposal surfaced. AI developer Anthropic then became the preferred bidder in August, entering advanced negotiations that valued Decart at between $6 billion and $7 billion. However, Anthropic walked away from the transaction in September 2026 after completing due diligence, according to SiliconANGLE and Calcalist. The specific factors behind Anthropic's withdrawal have not been publicly disclosed.
Decart has raised between $400 million and $450 million in venture funding since its 2023 launch, according to SiliconANGLE and Calcalist. The startup reached a $4 billion valuation in May 2026 when it secured a $300 million funding round led by Radical Ventures, alongside participation from Nvidia Ventures, Adobe Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Benchmark.
At roughly $7 billion, the reported purchase price represents a significant premium over Decart's May valuation, despite Decart's commercial revenues currently trailing far behind that valuation level, according to Calcalist.
Scale and Significance for Amazon's AI Strategy
Should the acquisition close at the reported valuation, Decart would become one of the costliest acquisitions in Amazon's corporate history. The transaction would surpass Amazon's $6.5 billion purchase of film studio MGM in 2022, though it sits below the approximately $11 billion deal announced earlier in 2026 to acquire satellite communications firm Globalstar, as detailed by PYMNTS and Calcalist.
Integrating Decart into AWS would shift the startup's toolchain from an independent ecosystem provider into an integrated asset powering Amazon's cloud data centers. For Amazon, owning software that simplifies chip migration gives AWS a strategic mechanism to ease customer transitions onto Trainium3, challenging Nvidia's entrenched grip on generative AI computing workloads.
Questions people ask
What is Decart and what technology does it build?
Decart is an AI startup founded in 2023 that creates software called DOS to optimize neural networks for specific chips, reducing porting time from months to weeks. The company also developed the Oasis and Lucy real-time interactive world simulation models.
How does the acquisition benefit Amazon Web Services?
Acquiring Decart gives Amazon internal access to tooling that enables customers to easily adapt and optimize their AI models for Amazon's proprietary Trainium3 chips, helping AWS compete against Nvidia's hardware dominance.
Why did previous acquisition attempts for Decart fail?
Nvidia pursued Decart in August 2026 before another bid emerged, and Anthropic entered advanced talks for $6 billion to $7 billion before walking away in September 2026 following due diligence.
Sources
- Report: Amazon in talks with AI startup Decart over possible $7B acquisitionSiliconANGLE, Oct 12, 2026
- Amazon emerges as potential buyer of Israeli AI startup Decart at $7 billioncalcalistech.com, Oct 12, 2026
- Amazon in talks to acquire AI startup Decart for $7 bln- WSJinvesting.com, Oct 11, 2026
- Amazon Weighs $7 Billion Purchase of AI Startup DecartPYMNTS.com, Oct 12, 2026
How this story was made: the newsroom picked it up from Techmeme and Google Search, gathered the full text of the sources above, and drafted it with AI assistance. Every factual claim was then checked against those sources before publishing (45 claims checked). Illustrations marked as AI-generated are not photographs. Spotted an error? Tell us.
Published October 12, 2026 at 01:40 UTC
