SpaceX acquires AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion（約9.6兆円） to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic in one of generative AI's few profitable segments.

What happened: SpaceX has closed its $60 billion（約9.6兆円） acquisition of Anysphere, the company behind the AI coding assistant Cursor. Anysphere's investors will receive SpaceX stock. The deal was completed shortly after SpaceX's Nasdaq listing, which valued the company at over $2 trillion（約320兆円）. Cursor had annualized revenue of $3 billion（約4800億円） by the end of April, up from $2 billion（約3200億円） in February, with more than 3,000 customers each paying at least $100,000 a year.

Why it matters: The acquisition is an admission that xAI (Musk's AI division, which merged with SpaceX in February) trails Anthropic and OpenAI in AI-assisted coding — one of the few commercially viable areas of generative AI. Cursor employees had already been working in xAI offices on a joint model. xAI had lost dozens of engineers and data training staff, forcing Musk to pull people from Starlink and Tesla to fill gaps. SpaceX posted a net loss of $4.94 billion（約7900億円） in 2025 after absorbing xAI's debt, with capital spending doubling to $20.7 billion（約3.3兆円）, mostly for AI.

What to watch: The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026. SpaceX gains access to its massive chip stockpile to support Cursor's work, while Cursor's recruiting firm (which helps top AI companies like OpenAI hire talent) should help xAI compete for engineering talent. Cursor had relied on models from OpenAI and Anthropic but is working on its own models.