Amazon Negotiates Seven-Billion-Dollar Acquisition of AI Startup Decart
Amazon is currently in talks to acquire artificial intelligence startup Decart in a deal valuing the company at approximately $7bn, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday. The discussions could result in an agreement soon, provided the negotiations do not collapse and rival buyers do not intervene.
The potential transaction highlights the fierce competition among cloud computing giants to secure advanced AI infrastructure and proprietary software layers. Decart, founded in 2023 by brothers Dean and Orian Leitersdorf alongside Moshe Shalev, operates offices in San Francisco and Tel Aviv. The startup specializes in software designed to help developers transition between disparate AI chips—a critical capability as enterprises race to lock down scarce computing power.
The Technical Architecture Behind the DOS Software Layer
At the core of Decart’s technology stack is a proprietary software layer designated as DOS. This infrastructure abstracts hardware dependencies, allowing machine learning workloads to migrate fluidly across different silicon architectures. Alongside its interoperability layer, Decart builds foundational models including Lucy, which dynamically alters live video feeds during playback, and Oasis, an engine engineered to generate interactive environments for physical AI and robotics.
Amazon Web Services established an early technical relationship with the startup following meetings with its founders last year, granting Decart early access to its proprietary Trainium silicon. The partnership materialized publicly at the AWS re:Invent conference in December 2025, where Decart’s video model executed live operations on Trainium3 architecture. In its official launch documentation for Trainium3 that week, Amazon cited performance metrics indicating that Decart’s models achieved four times faster frame generation at half the operational cost of standard graphics processing units.
Key Deal Talks Collapsed in September
In May, Decart closed a $300m funding round led by Radical Ventures, with Nvidia participating as a new strategic investor. That financing round valued the startup at nearly $4bn, following rejected overtures from Nvidia regarding an outright acquisition.
The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon is in talks to acquire AI startup Decart for 7 billion dollars. Decart builds software allowing developers to switch workloads between AI chips, helping AWS boost its Trainium silicon against Nvidia. Can custom chips break Nvidia's grip?
Subsequent acquisition interest intensified in August, when Anthropic engaged in advanced talks to acquire Decart in a share-based transaction valued at approximately $6bn. However, negotiations collapsed in September after Anthropic completed due diligence. The deal faltered primarily because Decart’s founders resisted demands to relocate a significant portion of their Tel Aviv engineering team to San Francisco.
Ecosystem Dynamics and Cloud Infrastructure Independence
Decart has accumulated more than $400m in total funding from backers including Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, and Radical Ventures. If finalized at the reported $7bn valuation, the transaction will constitute one of the largest corporate exits in the history of Israel’s technology sector, according to reporting by Globes.
The talks coincide with a broader industry push by major cloud providers to diversify away from heavy reliance on Nvidia hardware. On Monday, Microsoft announced that its custom Maia 300 chip will begin powering its internal AI services starting in 2027. Concurrently, Nvidia has pursued its own consolidation strategies, engaging in discussions to acquire or increase its investment in Reflection AI, as reported by the Financial Times.
Amazon declined to comment on the negotiations outside regular business hours, while Decart did not respond to media inquiries, according to Reuters. Neither company has released official statements regarding the operational status of the talks.
WSJ just reported that Amazon is in talks to buy Decart for about $7B, after earlier talks with Nvidia and Anthropic collapsed.Decart, founded in 2023 by Dean and Orian Leitersdorf and Moshe Shalev, builds software that lets developers move AI workloads between different chips.… pic.twitter.com/TjdBjB87rI
