SpaceX Secures Option to Acquire AI Coding Startup Cursor for $60 Billion

SpaceX has formed a strategic partnership with AI code generation startup Cursor, securing a structure that includes an option to acquire the company for $60 billion by the end of this year, or a payment of $10 billion in exchange for collaboration.

According to the official announcement, the two companies will work together to build "the world's best AI for coding and knowledge work," combining SpaceX's 1 million H100-class Colossus supercomputer with Cursor's developer distribution network.

As background, it's noted that SpaceX has already merged with xAI at a $1.25 trillion valuation. This move is being interpreted as an attempt by the xAI camp, which has fallen behind OpenAI Codex and Anthropic Claude in the AI coding market, to rapidly boost its competitiveness.

Cursor's valuation has also risen rapidly.

• January 2024: $2.5 billion
• May 2024: $9 billion
• Series D, November 2024: $29.3 billion
• Recent ongoing round: $50 billion valuation
• This option: $60 billion

It's also reported that Cursor's head of product engineering Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg already moved to SpaceX in March, contributing to the lunar orbit project and xAI.

Structurally, since Cursor doesn't have its own foundation model and currently resells Claude and GPT, this partnership is being read as a long-term move to reduce dependence on external models.

In the AI developer tools market, competition with GitHub Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer, and Google's AI coding assistant is expected to intensify further.