SpaceX has signed a binding agreement to acquire Anysphere, the startup behind the AI coding assistant Cursor, in an all-stock deal valued at $60 billion. Announced in a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Cursor will become a wholly owned subsidiary when the deal closes in the third quarter. This move follows SpaceX's record-breaking initial public offering last Friday, which was the largest in history and raised $75 billion.
The acquisition is part of Elon Musk's effort to strengthen SpaceX's AI division and gain a competitive edge over rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic. SpaceX told IPO investors it sees a $26 trillion addressable market in AI. By acquiring Cursor, SpaceX gains access to a wide distribution of expert software engineers and an autonomous coding agent that helps automate the process of writing code.
Founded in 2022, Cursor has been instrumental in sparking the vibe coding trend, where AI assistants perform the work of computer programming. While Cursor has previously relied on partnerships with larger AI research firms for its foundational technology, it will now be able to build future products using the Colossus data center complex in Memphis, Tennessee, operated by SpaceX subsidiary xAI.
This acquisition exercises an option SpaceX first disclosed in April, at which time the company had the right to buy Cursor or pay $10 billion to collaborate. Following its successful Wall Street debut, SpaceX shares have continued to rise, increasing 9% before Tuesday's opening bell.