Amazon is reportedly in talks to buy Decart. On October 11, 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Amazon is negotiating an acquisition of AI startup Decart at a valuation of around $7 billion. Reuters followed the story the same day, noting that it could not independently verify the report and that neither Amazon nor Decart responded to requests for comment. So the nature of the story needs stating plainly: this is a negotiation in progress, not a closed deal.
What Decart actually has
Founded in 2023 and based in San Francisco, Decart works on two layers. One is models: Lucy can edit live video streams in real time, and Oasis generates interactive simulated environments used to train and test robots and autonomous-driving systems. The other layer is less visible but may be the real reason for the price: software that optimizes AI models so they run smoothly across different chips, instead of being rewritten for each type of hardware. In May, Decart raised $300 million in a round led by Radical Ventures with Nvidia joining as a new investor, at a valuation close to $4 billion according to PitchBook data, taking its total raised past $400 million.
Why Amazon would pay more after Anthropic walked away
The price sequence is the most telling part. Bloomberg previously reported that Anthropic considered buying Decart for about $6 billion in August and abandoned the idea in September after due diligence. Amazon's reported offer is roughly $1 billion higher. The gap reflects different needs: Anthropic was buying model capability and decided, after looking inside, that it was not worth it. What Amazon lacks is not another model but the software ecosystem around its Trainium chips. Its hardware can rival Nvidia on performance, yet the cost for developers to migrate has stayed high, and Decart's cross-chip optimization speaks directly to that gap. Real-time video and world models would also strengthen the generative video and simulation training shelves on AWS. The move fits Amazon's pattern of sustained spending on compute, which has recently included a five-year, $1 billion commitment to the communities around its data centers.
Plenty can still change at the negotiating table
Three uncertainties are right on the surface. First, the report rests on unnamed sources and neither company will comment; as the reporting itself notes, a deal could come together soon, but it could also collapse or attract another suitor. Second, Anthropic's exit after due diligence is a warning sign: whatever it saw inside may be exactly what a $6 billion check could not justify, so Amazon's higher bid has to be justified by its own math. Third, Decart has only about sixty employees, which means a $7 billion valuation buys mostly technology and team density. Whether those people stay, and whether the optimization software truly lands inside the AWS and Trainium roadmap, will decide if the money was well spent.
The signals to watch are concrete: whether either side comments officially, whether the valuation changes in any announcement, and whether the structure is a full acquisition or an acqui-hire with a technology license. Until then, $7 billion is a number on a negotiating table, not a price tag.
