Cognition disputes report of SpaceX acquisition discussions

Cognition CEO Scott Wu has denied that SpaceX attempted to acquire the AI coding startup, rejecting a Bloomberg report that cited people familiar with the matter. In a post on X, Wu said the report was inaccurate, stated that Cognition “is not for sale,” and said the two companies had not been in talks.

The report emerged shortly after SpaceX completed its $60 billion acquisition of AI coding company Cursor. Bloomberg said any acquisition discussions involving Cognition were no longer active, while the companies could still be considering collaboration. Wu did not address the specific claim that Cognition might use SpaceX computing capacity.

AI coding is central to SpaceX’s expansion plans

SpaceX has been building a larger AI business following its acquisition of xAI earlier this year and a June IPO that lifted its market capitalisation to nearly $2.3 trillion at its peak. Elon Musk told employees last week that AI could account for 99% of the company’s value in roughly four or five years.

AI-assisted coding offers a direct route to commercialising AI systems, particularly in the enterprise market. SpaceX and Cursor were working together before their deal closed, and this month jointly released Grok 4.6, a model reported to score more highly on coding and complex, multi-step agentic-task benchmarks.

SpaceX’s position in AI coding was also shaped by SpaceX Cursor partnership and acquisition option, which described its Cursor partnership and $60 billion purchase option, as the companies moved towards the completed transaction. Bloomberg reported that SpaceX is selling computing capacity to AI companies including Anthropic until it needs the capacity itself.

Cognition remains independent

An acquisition of Cognition would have added its Devin coding agent and enterprise customers, including Mercedes-Benz, Citi and Goldman Sachs, to SpaceX’s AI portfolio. Instead, Cognition remains among the major independent AI software coding startups not acquired by a large AI model developer.

In late May, Cognition raised $1 billion at a $25 billion post-money valuation. Bloomberg reported that it is now in early discussions for another funding round at a $40 billion valuation. Cognition had already expanded through its acquisition of the remaining assets of Windsurf after Google DeepMind hired the competitor’s CEO and leading researchers in a $2.4 billion talent and licensing deal.

For businesses selecting AI coding tools, the denial is a reminder to distinguish reported corporate activity from confirmed product commitments. Procurement teams can assess a vendor’s roadmap, enterprise customer base and infrastructure arrangements on the facts available, rather than assume an acquisition will change the service they buy.