Amazon is reportedly in talks to acquire AI startup Decart in a deal valued at approximately $7 billion, a move that could strengthen the e-commerce and cloud computing giant’s ambitions to challenge NVIDIA in the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence market. The proposed acquisition would give Amazon access to technology designed to help developers run AI workloads across different chips, potentially reducing dependence on a single hardware platform.
Amazon is exploring another major investment in artificial intelligence as competition intensifies over the computing infrastructure powering next-generation AI models. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the company is discussing a potential acquisition of Decart, a San Francisco-based startup developing software that allows AI developers to switch between different types of processors.
If completed, the transaction could represent a significant step in Amazon’s strategy to strengthen its AI hardware ecosystem, expand the adoption of its in-house processors, and compete more aggressively with NVIDIA, whose graphics processing units (GPUs) have become central to AI training and inference.
However, discussions remain ongoing, and neither a final agreement nor the completion of the acquisition has been announced.
Why Decart’s AI Chip Technology Matters
As businesses accelerate their adoption of generative AI, the availability, cost, and performance of computing hardware have become critical considerations. Training and running advanced AI models require enormous computing resources, placing pressure on technology companies to explore alternatives to traditional GPU-based infrastructure.
Decart is developing software that enables AI workloads to operate across different chips. Such technology could help developers move between hardware platforms without having to substantially rebuild their applications for each processor architecture.
For Amazon Web Services (AWS), this capability could prove strategically valuable. Rather than competing solely through the performance of its own chips, Amazon could also make it easier for customers to adopt its hardware by simplifying the software layer that connects AI applications with computing infrastructure.
Greater compatibility across processors could give developers more flexibility when choosing hardware based on cost, availability, and performance. It could also help cloud providers encourage customers to use their proprietary chips instead of relying exclusively on NVIDIA-powered systems.
For Amazon, therefore, the potential acquisition is about more than adding another AI startup to its portfolio. It could help the company strengthen the broader ecosystem surrounding its custom-built AI processors.
Decart’s Rapid Rise in the AI Industry
Founded in 2023 by Israeli engineers Dean Leitersdorf, his brother Orian Leitersdorf, and Moshe Shalev, Decart has quickly attracted attention from prominent venture capital investors.
According to PitchBook data cited by the Wall Street Journal, the startup has raised more than $400 million in venture capital funding, with investors including Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, and Radical Ventures. Its valuation reportedly approached $4 billion in May 2026.
A potential acquisition valued at approximately $7 billion would represent a substantial increase over that reported valuation, highlighting the strategic importance investors and technology companies increasingly attach to AI infrastructure.
The interest in Decart also reflects a broader shift in the AI industry. While attention has often focused on companies developing large language models and consumer-facing AI applications, the underlying technologies that make AI systems faster, more efficient, and less expensive are becoming equally important.
Startups capable of improving chip utilisation and reducing barriers between hardware platforms could play an increasingly influential role as demand for AI computing continues to grow.
Amazon’s Trainium Chips at the Centre of Its AI Strategy
Amazon has been investing heavily in its own AI silicon through its Trainium processor family, designed to provide an alternative to NVIDIA’s chips for training and running AI models.
AWS reportedly gave Decart early access to its Trainium3 AI chip in 2025 after meeting the startup’s founders. That relationship could provide useful context for the reported acquisition discussions, particularly given Decart’s focus on software that supports different computing platforms.
Developing competitive AI chips is only one part of the challenge. Cloud providers must also ensure that developers can use those processors efficiently, migrate workloads without excessive friction, and access the software tools needed to build and deploy sophisticated AI systems.
Decart’s technology could help address some of these challenges by improving flexibility across hardware environments. If integrated successfully, it could support Amazon’s efforts to make Trainium more attractive to AI developers and enterprise customers.
For NVIDIA, which benefits from a mature hardware and software ecosystem, the emergence of more flexible AI computing platforms could introduce additional competitive pressure. Nevertheless, any impact would depend on the capabilities of Decart’s technology, its integration into AWS, and developers’ willingness to adopt alternative infrastructure.
Beyond AI Chips: Decart’s World Models
Decart’s ambitions extend beyond chip compatibility. The startup is also developing world models, including Lucy and Oasis, designed to generate and simulate three-dimensional environments.
These systems could support interactive digital worlds and applications involving simulated real-world conditions. Potential use cases include robotics, autonomous systems, and AI applications that require models to understand or generate complex environments.
World models are attracting interest because they could help AI systems learn from simulated experiences and interact with environments in increasingly sophisticated ways. For companies investing in advanced AI infrastructure, such technologies could complement the computing platforms required to train and deploy them.
For Amazon, acquiring Decart could therefore offer opportunities beyond processor optimisation, potentially adding capabilities relevant to future AI applications.
Amazon’s Expanding Acquisition Strategy
The reported Decart discussions come as Amazon continues to pursue large strategic investments and acquisitions across its businesses.
The company acquired MGM Studios for approximately $6.5 billion in 2022, strengthening its entertainment portfolio. In 2026, Amazon also announced a deal worth roughly $11 billion for Globalstar, according to the information reported.
A potential $7 billion investment in Decart would underscore the importance Amazon places on securing technologies that could strengthen its competitive position in strategically significant markets.
The move would also align with the wider technology industry’s growing focus on AI infrastructure, where control over computing hardware, software, and cloud services can influence long-term market positioning.
What Comes Next for Amazon and Decart?
The reported acquisition remains under discussion, and its final structure, valuation, and terms have not been confirmed. Global Biz Outlook has reached out to Amazon for comment.
If the deal proceeds, it could give Amazon another tool in its efforts to build a more competitive AI ecosystem around AWS and its custom processors. It could also signal that the next phase of competition with NVIDIA will involve not only faster chips but also software that allows AI developers to use different hardware platforms more easily.
As demand for AI computing expands, companies that can combine capable processors, flexible software, and accessible cloud infrastructure may gain an important advantage. Whether Amazon ultimately acquires Decart or pursues another route, the reported discussions highlight the growing importance of AI chip flexibility in the battle to shape the future of artificial intelligence.
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