After Cursor, SpaceX now eyes Cognition

Staff Report: PNN

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is moving ahead even more aggressively to keep pace with rivals in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. As part of these efforts, the company attempted to acquire the AI coding startup Cognition, according to a report published by Bloomberg. However, Scott Wu, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cognition, has directly rejected that claim.

Citing several sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg's report stated that SpaceX had engaged in discussions regarding the acquisition of Cognition. However, those talks are no longer active. Meanwhile, following the publication of the report, Scott Wu claimed on the social media platform X that the news was inaccurate. In his words, Cognition is "not for sale" and no acquisition talks took place between the two companies.

Cognition's AI coding agent, Devin, can automatically write code, analyze programs, and complete various complex tasks involved in software development. The company’s corporate clients include major names such as Mercedes-Benz, Citi, and Goldman Sachs.

SpaceX’s AI ambitions have become increasingly clear in recent times. Last June, the company acquired another AI coding startup, Cursor, for approximately $60 billion. That acquisition process was officially completed just last week.

Prior to this, Musk’s AI venture, xAI, was also integrated with SpaceX. The growing importance of AI in SpaceX’s business is evident in Musk’s recent comments as well. Addressing employees, he stated that within the next four to five years, nearly 90 percent of SpaceX’s total valuation could stem from AI.

However, SpaceX faces significant challenges in the AI race. Compared to giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, xAI remains in a relatively early stage. Controversies surrounding its chatbot, Grok, have also created additional pressure for the venture.

Particularly, AI-assisted coding has rapidly emerged as a lucrative revenue-generating sector in the tech industry. The swift rise in popularity of Anthropic’s Claude Code has further highlighted the potential of this market. This strategy of boosting AI coding capabilities is believed to have driven SpaceX’s acquisition of Cursor.

Acquiring Cognition would have placed another powerful coding platform like Devin under SpaceX’s control. Additionally, it would have allowed the company to leverage Cognition’s relationships with major corporate clients to strengthen its position in the enterprise AI market.

However, Cognition’s current market valuation is also substantial. Last May, the company raised $1 billion in funding, which brought its valuation to approximately $25 billion following that investment round. Meanwhile, discussions regarding fresh funding are underway, with the potential valuation reaching up to $40 billion, as noted in Bloomberg’s report.

Cognition previously made headlines last year when it acquired the remaining assets of another AI coding firm, Windsurf. Prior to that, Google DeepMind had recruited top executives from Windsurf into its own team.

Meanwhile, despite denying the acquisition reports, the possibility of future technological cooperation between the two companies cannot be entirely ruled out. Bloomberg claims that Cognition may continue discussions regarding the utilization of SpaceX’s computing capacity. SpaceX currently supplies computing power to other AI firms in addition to supporting its own AI infrastructure.

As a result, uncertainty remains over whether acquisition talks actually occurred. Nonetheless, following the Cursor acquisition, news of SpaceX’s interest in another major AI coding firm like Cognition has sparked renewed discussion across the tech sector regarding the scale of Musk’s AI roadmap.