--- title: SpaceX's AI coding shopping spree: Cursor, then a... description: SpaceX, just days after closing its $60bn acquisition of Cursor, reportedly approached Cognition (maker of the Devin coding agent) about a potential deal.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-s-ai-coding-shopping-spree-cursor-then-a-reported-run-at-cognition-cqgttw15k twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: SpaceX's AI coding shopping spree: Cursor, then a reported run at Cognition | daily.dev og:description: SpaceX, just days after closing its $60bn acquisition of Cursor, reportedly approached Cognition (maker of the Devin coding agent) about a potential deal.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-s-ai-coding-shopping-spree-cursor-then-a-reported-run-at-cognition-cqgttw15k og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/cqGttW15k.png og:image:alt: SpaceX's AI coding shopping spree: Cursor, then a reported run at Cognition og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # SpaceX's AI coding shopping spree: Cursor, then a reported run at Cognition **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 4 min read · 7 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary SpaceX, just days after closing its $60bn acquisition of Cursor, reportedly approached Cognition (maker of the Devin coding agent) about a potential deal. Cognition CEO Scott Wu denied the company is for sale, but Bloomberg reports talks occurred, possibly involving Cognition using SpaceX's compute rather than a straight buyout. Cognition previously raised $1bn at a $26bn valuation, with reported early conversations floating figures north of $40bn. Musk is said to be pushing for SpaceX's AI division to out-earn its rocket business by September. The piece argues Cursor's sale makes sense because it lacked its own frontier models and GPU infrastructure, unlike Codex or Claude, leaving it squeezed on token economics - and frames SpaceX's compute as a potential lifeline. ## Content ## What happened OpenAI announced it's ending its model partnership with Cursor, the AI coding tool acquired by SpaceX for $60 billion. Direct access to OpenAI models through Cursor will end November 12, 2026. The trigger was a change-of-control clause in the contract — once SpaceX took over, OpenAI invoked it. The stated reason is trust, or the lack of it. OpenAI pointed to Elon Musk's companies' track record: Twitter/X and xAI have both been accused of violating API terms of service, and Musk admitted under oath that xAI had "partly" distilled OpenAI's models to improve Grok. With OpenAI's upcoming Astra model on the horizon, they apparently decided they couldn't risk handing SpaceX another data pipeline. ## The numbers in dispute Cursor CEO Michael Truell responded that OpenAI models account for about 5% of Cursor's traffic, framing the move as disproportionate. OpenAI's Tibor Blaho pushed back on that framing, arguing that token count is a poor proxy for value — frontier models like OpenAI's are more token-efficient, so a smaller traffic share can represent a larger share of actual work done. Both are probably right in their own way, which makes the public spat feel a bit beside the point. Cursor was also one of OpenAI's earliest API customers. Truell noted they've worked closely with the team for years and treated OpenAI as neutral infrastructure. That relationship is now over. ## What Cursor users can still do OpenAI says it will continue to support: - Personal OpenAI API keys used directly in Cursor - The Codex IDE extension - Access through AI gateway providers like Amazon Bedrock or Azure Cursor is also in active discussions with Azure to migrate its traffic. And Cursor already ships Grok 4.5 on every plan, so SpaceX's own model is already in the product. ## Anthropic steps in Anthropic's head of compute, Tom Brown, publicly pledged to increase compute support for Claude in Cursor, calling it a trusted partner since Sonnet 3.5. The optics were good — until people pointed out that Anthropic did essentially the same thing to Windsurf not long ago. So the pledge landed with some skepticism. ## The bigger picture This is genuinely messy, and it cuts in multiple directions. For developers, the immediate impact is limited — OpenAI models were only 5% of traffic, and workarounds exist. But the episode exposes something uncomfortable: if your coding tool depends on a foundation model provider, you're one acquisition or contract dispute away from disruption. Cursor trusted OpenAI as neutral infrastructure. That trust turned out to be contingent. For SpaceX, the Cursor acquisition looks like the start of a broader AI push. Within days of closing the deal, SpaceX reportedly approached Cognition (maker of the Devin coding agent) about an acquisition, though Cognition's CEO Scott Wu publicly denied any talks. Bloomberg reported the discussions included a possible compute arrangement. Musk has reportedly set a target for SpaceX's AI arm to generate more revenue than its rocket business by September. One analyst framed the Cursor acquisition this way: Cursor couldn't compete long-term without owning its own models and GPU infrastructure. Unlike Codex or Claude Code, which benefit from favorable token economics within their own ecosystems, Cursor was paying API rates and couldn't subsidize aggressive pricing indefinitely. SpaceX's compute capacity changes that math. For the broader AI ecosystem, there's an irony worth sitting with. Frontier labs are extremely protective of their IP against distillation risks — OpenAI pulling from Cursor, Anthropic pulling from Windsurf — while simultaneously asking enterprise customers to trust them with sensitive code and proprietary data. The asymmetry is real, and developers are starting to notice. EU users have an additional wrinkle: data-switching regulations require two months' notice and free porting, but those rules protect customers leaving a provider, not customers being dropped by one. Cursor's EU users get 75 days' notice and no statutory backing. ## What this probably means going forward The cleanest takeaway is that coding tools with no stake in foundation models have a structural advantage here — they don't have incentives to steer users toward proprietary models, and they're not caught in the crossfire when AI companies fight each other. Whether that advantage translates into better products is a separate question. For now, Cursor keeps working. Anthropic is leaning in. OpenAI is out in November. And SpaceX is apparently shopping for more AI companies to buy. ## Questions this post answers ### Did SpaceX acquire Cursor? Yes, SpaceX closed a $60bn acquisition of Cursor. Just five days later, SpaceX reportedly approached Cognition, the company behind the Devin coding agent, about a potential deal of its own, though talks reportedly involved Cognition using SpaceX's compute capacity rather than a straightforward buyout. _Follow how AI coding tool consolidation reshapes vendor choices on daily.dev._ ### Why did Cursor need to be acquired instead of staying independent? Cursor built its interface and workflow on top of open-source models rather than owning frontier models or GPU infrastructure, unlike Codex or Claude whose parent companies control token economics end to end. That left Cursor reliant on others for compute and pricing, making it vulnerable to being squeezed by rivals who can subsidize aggressive pricing with their own data centers. _Developers weighing AI coding tools by their underlying infrastructure can track these shifts on daily.dev._ ### What is Cognition's valuation and did it agree to be acquired by SpaceX? Cognition, maker of the Devin coding agent, previously raised $1bn at a $26bn valuation, and reported early conversations around a SpaceX deal floated figures north of $40bn. CEO Scott Wu publicly denied the company is for sale, though Bloomberg reported that talks did take place. _Anyone evaluating Devin against other coding agents can follow the story on daily.dev._ ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 1 discussion and 1 comments across x (as of 2026-08-30). **TL;DR:** There's barely any discussion to go on, but the one reply present is a mildly annoyed request for a summary rather than a substantive take on the acquisition itself. **Sentiment:** 0% positive · 20% mixed · 80% skeptical **The pushback** - One reply expresses frustration at having to dig for details rather than getting a quick summary. **By community** - x (skeptical): The lone reply is impatient, asking for the key detail instead of needing to watch a full video. **Highlights** > @theo fine, what's the detail, don't make us watch the whole video for it > — [suqitah on x · 1 points](https://x.com/suqitah/status/2094172323762831642) **Source threads** - [x](https://x.com/theo/status/2094172153956680132) · 0 points · 1 comments --- Tags: [#business](https://daily.dev/tags/business), [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#spacex](https://daily.dev/tags/spacex) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-s-ai-coding-shopping-spree-cursor-then-a-reported-run-at-cognition-cqgttw15k) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"SpaceX's AI coding shopping spree: Cursor, then a reported run at Cognition","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-s-ai-coding-shopping-spree-cursor-then-a-reported-run-at-cognition-cqgttw15k","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-s-ai-coding-shopping-spree-cursor-then-a-reported-run-at-cognition-cqgttw15k"},"datePublished":"2026-08-25T14:44:32.573Z","dateModified":"2026-08-31T05:33:46.769Z","description":"SpaceX, just days after closing its $60bn acquisition of Cursor, reportedly approached Cognition (maker of the Devin coding agent) about a potential deal....","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CfBuTYcE7Wk/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CfBuTYcE7Wk/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Collections","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Collections","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--fk_6ycEi--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780996001/logos/collections?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-s-ai-coding-shopping-spree-cursor-then-a-reported-run-at-cognition-cqgttw15k","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":7},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"business,ai-coding,spacex","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Collections","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"SpaceX's AI coding shopping spree: Cursor, then a reported run at Cognition"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-s-ai-coding-shopping-spree-cursor-then-a-reported-run-at-cognition-cqgttw15k#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Did SpaceX acquire Cursor?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, SpaceX closed a $60bn acquisition of Cursor. Just five days later, SpaceX reportedly approached Cognition, the company behind the Devin coding agent, about a potential deal of its own, though talks reportedly involved Cognition using SpaceX's compute capacity rather than a straightforward buyout. Follow how AI coding tool consolidation reshapes vendor choices on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Cursor need to be acquired instead of staying independent?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Cursor built its interface and workflow on top of open-source models rather than owning frontier models or GPU infrastructure, unlike Codex or Claude whose parent companies control token economics end to end. That left Cursor reliant on others for compute and pricing, making it vulnerable to being squeezed by rivals who can subsidize aggressive pricing with their own data centers. 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