SpaceX Acquires Cursor Maker for $60 Billion

SpaceX has formally announced the acquisition of Anysphere, the company behind the Cursor code editor, for $60 billion in an all-stock deal. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, making Cursor a wholly owned subsidiary of Elon Musk's rocket giant. It is the largest venture-backed startup acquisition ever recorded.

The Biggest Deal in the Industry

The announcement came just days after SpaceX's historic stock market debut, in which the company raised $75 billion. Following news of the acquisition, SpaceX shares rose 8 percent, pushing the company's valuation above $2.7 trillion, more than Amazon and Meta are worth combined.

SpaceX had already secured the right to buy Cursor back in April. The agreement gave the company the option to acquire Anysphere outright or pay $10 billion for the partnership alone. Walking away from the purchase would have triggered a $1.5 billion penalty and the transfer of $8.5 billion in computing resources, a sign of how seriously both sides treated the option from the start.

Why Cursor

Cursor, founded in 2022 as Anysphere, reached roughly $4 billion in annualized revenue in under four years, with $2.6 billion of that coming from enterprise customers. The tool has become one of the most popular large language model-based coding assistants, competing directly with GitHub Copilot and Anthropic's Claude Code.

According to SpaceX's statement, SpaceXAI teams have been training a model together with Cursor for several months, one intended for both Cursor and Grok Build, xAI's coding tool. Cursor chief executive Michael Truell spoke of wanting to join forces on advancing frontier-class model capabilities.

A Blow to Anthropic and OpenAI

Analysts read Musk's move as an attempt to strengthen Grok's position in coding, a segment where xAI has clearly lagged behind Anthropic and OpenAI. Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge said the acquisition is meant to give Grok a boost precisely where the model has so far failed to build a real edge.

The deal fits into the broader picture of rivalry among the biggest AI players, with both OpenAI and Anthropic preparing to go public this year. Control over one of the leading AI coding tools gives SpaceX direct access to millions of developers and data on how they actually use AI assistants day to day.

What It Means for Developers

For Cursor's users, including many Polish development teams that rely on it daily, the key question is the product's future direction and pricing once it comes under SpaceX's wing. Consolidation of the AI coding tools market is accelerating: Cognition was previously valued at $26 billion, and OpenAI acquired the Ona startup that supports Codex.

Sources: SpaceX to buy AI coding assistant Cursor for $60 billion (cbsnews.com), SpaceX to acquire the AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion (cnbc.com), SpaceX's $60 Billion Cursor Acquisition Changes Everything (fool.com).