SpaceX is acquiring AI coding startup Anysphere, the company behind the Cursor AI coding agent, in a $60 billion all-stock deal aimed at strengthening its position in the rapidly growing enterprise artificial intelligence tools market, the company said Tuesday.
The deal comes just days after Elon Musk took the rockets-to-AI conglomerate public in a blockbuster Nasdaq debut that valued SpaceX at more than $2 trillion, marking one of the most closely watched listings in recent years.
The acquisition is expected to bolster xAI, the Grok chatbot developer that SpaceX merged with in February, by expanding its capabilities in AI-assisted coding — one of the earliest segments where artificial intelligence has generated meaningful enterprise revenue. The push into AI is also tied to SpaceX’s broader strategy targeting what it describes as a $28.5 trillion total addressable market.
Cursor has emerged as one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent AI coding startups, attracting developers with tools that automate large portions of software development. It competes directly with leading AI firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic. However, the company has previously said limited access to high-performance computing infrastructure has constrained its expansion.
SpaceX had been exploring a deal for months, unveiling in April an option to either acquire the San Francisco-based startup for $60 billion or pursue a $10 billion strategic partnership instead.
Under the agreement, Cursor will be compensated in SpaceX stock rather than cash, according to a regulatory filing. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.
SpaceX shares rose nearly 10% in premarket trading, putting the company on track to add about $247 billion to its $2.53 trillion market capitalization. At $211.27, the stock has climbed more than 56% above its IPO price of $135. If gains hold, SpaceX would surpass Amazon in market value, becoming the fifth-largest company globally.
Cursor, founded in 2022, has scaled rapidly, generating about $2.6 billion in annualized business-to-business revenue, with enterprise demand continuing to grow, according to company data shared with Reuters earlier this month.
The startup is backed by major venture capital firms including Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital, as well as technology giants Nvidia and Google. Earlier this year, Cursor was reportedly in talks for a funding round valuing it at $50 billion.
The filing said SpaceX would pay a $10 billion termination fee if the deal is canceled under certain conditions, and a $4 billion regulatory termination fee if antitrust concerns prevent completion.
It was not immediately clear whether the acquisition would affect SpaceX’s recent cloud computing arrangements. The company has struck deals with Anthropic and Google to lease data center capacity worth roughly $26 billion annually.
Both agreements include 90-day termination clauses, allowing SpaceX to quickly reclaim computing resources if necessary.
