SpaceX agrees to acquire Cursor in deal valuing the AI coding tool at $60 billion or involving a $10 billion payment

SpaceX has made a deal to buy Cursor, with the structure involving either a $60 billion acquisition price at some point in the future or a $10 billion payment for joint work. The unusual structure is being used to avoid disrupting SpaceX's planned IPO, which is rumored to be valued up to $2 trillion and likely to occur in June.

This is SpaceX's second major AI-focused acquisition in the last year, following its acquisition of xAI (which includes X, formerly known as Twitter). According to the article, Cursor is an advanced suite of AI coding tools, and the partnership could help SpaceX's engineering efforts including its mission to Mars.

The deal reflects SpaceX's strategy to transform from a rocket company into a tech company combining space hardware with AI. One stated long-term vision is to use Starship to launch orbital data centers powered by solar energy and cooled by space, moving AI computing off Earth's power grid. However, industry experts quoted in the article question the technical and cost feasibility of space-based data centers.