SpaceX Secures Option To Acquire Cursor For $60 Billion Or Pay $10 Billion Fee

SpaceX has announced an arrangement with AI coding startup Cursor that would either let it acquire Cursor later this year for $60 billion or pay $10 billion tied to their joint work.

TechCrunch reports that “giving it the option to acquire the firm later this year” came as Cursor was “on track to close a $2 billion funding round later this week,” with the round “would have valued the company at $50 billion.”

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The Verge describes SpaceX’s announcement as “either acquire the automated programming platform Cursor for $60 billion or pay a fee of $10 billion,” and it adds that SpaceX confirmed the deal “in a tweet.”

Seeking Alpha frames the same core terms as “Cursor has granted the company an option to acquire the firm later this year in a deal valued at $60B, or alternatively pay $10B tied to their joint work.”

The Decoder likewise says “SpaceX has secured an option to buy AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion” and that “If the deal falls through, SpaceX will pay a $10 billion breakup fee.”

Across the reporting, the deal is presented as a way for SpaceX to combine Cursor’s AI coding product with SpaceX’s computing resources, with The Verge quoting SpaceX’s stated goal that “build the world’s most useful models.”

The deal’s timing is central to how multiple outlets describe what happened to Cursor’s financing.

TechCrunch says that “Until a few hours before SpaceX announced its deal” Cursor was “on track to close a $2 billion funding round later this week,” and it adds that “The round would have valued the company at $50 billion.”

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TechCrunch also reports that SpaceX said it would “either buy the company at some point later this year or pay $10 billion to Cursor to collaborate on AI development,” while Cursor was “running a parallel process” that included “negotiating a potential acquisition by SpaceX” and “simultaneously finalizing a private funding round.”

The Tech Buzz similarly describes Cursor “halted a $2B funding round mid-close after SpaceX offered $10B upfront plus a $60B acquisition pathway,” and it says the $2 billion round was “set to close this week.”

The Tech Buzz further claims the offer valued Cursor “30x higher than its planned funding round valuation,” and it quotes a person close to the fundraising process telling TechCrunch, “We were literally reviewing final docs when this landed.”

The Decoder adds that “A planned funding round led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz at a $50 billion valuation was halted as part of the deal.”

Several outlets connect the Cursor deal to SpaceX’s and xAI’s competitive position in AI coding.

TechCrunch says SpaceX “has been aiming to beef up its AI capabilities to better compete with leaders like Anthropic and OpenAI,” and it adds that “Acquiring Cursor gives Elon Musk’s company a better chance of challenging rivals in AI coding.”

The Verge similarly frames the acquisition as a way to help xAI’s tools “compete with market leader Anthropic, as well as the other competitors,” and it points to Cursor’s focus on “AI coding.”

The Decoder describes the gap in more direct terms, saying “For Elon Musk, the deal fills a gap at xAI, which has been trailing competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic on coding tools.”

TechCrunch reports that SpaceX recently merged with xAI and that it is delaying the acquisition “until after its IPO this summer,” in part to avoid “updating its confidential financial filings before the listing.”

The Tech Buzz adds that the strategy is to “own critical AI developer tools as it scales Starship and satellite operations.”

The reported rationale for the deal repeatedly centers on compute capacity and the ability to train or scale models using SpaceX-controlled infrastructure.

TechCrunch says SpaceX has “access to vast computing capacity at its data centers in Mississippi and Tennessee,” which it can offer Cursor, “potentially in lieu of part of the $10 billion “collaboration” payment promised the coding startup.”

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The Verge quotes SpaceX’s stated combination of Cursor’s product and distribution with its training hardware, saying “Cursor’s leading product and distribution to expert software engineers with SpaceX’s million H100 equivalent Colossus training supercomputer will allow us to build the world’s most useful models.”

Gotrade similarly claims the deal combines Cursor with “SpaceX's Colossus supercomputer and its million-H100-equivalent cluster,” and it says the move includes “a staggering $10 billion breakup fee.”

The Decoder adds a compute-focused explanation from Cursor’s side, stating “a shortage of compute” and that “Training its own Composer models had been held back by limited compute capacity.”

The Tech Buzz, while more narrative, also emphasizes the structure as a strategic pivot, describing the $10 billion as an immediate “collaboration fee” and presenting it as “essentially paying Cursor to become its exclusive AI development partner.”

Multiple outlets place the Cursor decision within SpaceX’s IPO timeline and broader AI competition.

TechCrunch says SpaceX is “delaying the potential acquisition of Cursor until after its IPO this summer,” and it explains that this is “largely because the company wants to avoid updating its confidential financial filings before the listing.”

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It adds that “it will be easier to finance the $60 billion purchase using its new, publicly traded stock,” and it notes that SpaceX “recently merged with xAI.”

The Decoder states “An IPO is planned for June,” and it also says SpaceX had “absorbed xAI in an internal merger in February 2026, valuing the combined company at $1.25 trillion.”

On the competitive side, TechCrunch says Cursor faces “fierce competition from Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex,” and it notes that SpaceX wants to challenge those rivals in AI coding.

The Decoder adds that xAI is “losing talent” and references that “Back in March, xAI poached two former Cursor execs, Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg.”