SpaceX Acquires AI Coding Startup Cursor for $60bn
SpaceX has agreed to acquire the AI coding start-up Cursor for $60 billion (£45 billion) just days following its highly successful initial public offering (IPO).
Elon Musk's aerospace company will take over Anysphere, the developer behind the artificial intelligence coding agent.
This acquisition follows SpaceX's debut on New York's Nasdaq stock exchange last Friday, marking the largest IPO ever. The listing valued SpaceX at over $2 trillion and raised $85.7 billion.
By the following Tuesday, SpaceX had surpassed Amazon to become the world's fifth most valuable company.
The two companies have been collaborating since April, when SpaceX announced it held the option to either purchase Cursor for $60 billion or pay $10 billion for the joint work completed.
Cursor's AI Technology and Partnership with SpaceX
Similar to OpenAI and Anthropic, Cursor's technology utilizes artificial intelligence to automate code writing, a leading application of AI today.
This partnership aligns with SpaceX's efforts to expand its AI business, xAI, which is responsible for the controversial Grok chatbot.
When announcing the partnership in April, SpaceX stated:
"The combination of Cursor's leading product and distribution to expert software engineers with SpaceX's million H100 equivalent Colossus training supercomputer will allow us to build the world's most useful models."
Cursor is employed by major corporations including Stripe, Adobe, and Nvidia. Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang has referred to Cursor as his "favourite enterprise AI service."
SpaceX indicated the acquisition would be finalized by the end of September, with Cursor's shareholders compensated with $60 billion worth of SpaceX shares.
SpaceX's Market Performance and Valuation
Since its IPO, SpaceX's shares have surged nearly two-thirds above the $135 offer price, including a strong first full day on the public market.
The company's market capitalization now stands at $2.9 trillion, surpassing Amazon's $2.7 trillion but remaining behind Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet (Google's parent company), and Nvidia.
The IPO also made Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire, igniting discussions on wealth inequality and taxation.
SpaceX's valuation is primarily driven by optimism about its future earnings potential rather than demonstrated financial results.
Currently, the company is not profitable, incurring operational losses exceeding its revenues.
According to financial filings, SpaceX lost over $9 billion in 2025 and 2026 combined, largely due to substantial investments in AI and infrastructure.
SpaceX's Core Business and Expansion into AI
The company's main operations focus on manufacturing and launching rockets with reusable components.
SpaceX also produces and deploys Starlink internet satellites. Through its acquisition of xAI earlier this year, another Musk-owned company, SpaceX has further expanded into the artificial intelligence sector.
