On Wednesday, TechCrunch reported that SpaceX attempted to acquire Cognition, an artificial intelligence coding startup. Wu denied it. He said the company "is not for sale" and the two companies have not been in talks. SpaceX competes with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google in artificial intelligence, particularly in the growing AI-assisted coding market. This acquisition reflects the broader competitive push.
SpaceX previously acquired Cursor for $60 billion, a deal that closed last week. SpaceX also acquired xAI earlier this year; xAI went public in June with a market capitalization that peaked at nearly $2.3 trillion. CEO Elon Musk recently told SpaceX employees that artificial intelligence will account for approximately 99 percent of the company's value within four to five years, emphasizing the company's strategic focus on building AI capabilities.
Cognition remains independent in an increasingly consolidating market for AI coding tools. In late May, the company raised $1 billion at a $25 billion post-money valuation, and currently it is in early-stage talks for additional funding at a $40 billion valuation, according to TechCrunch's reporting. Cognition's Devin coding agent serves enterprise customers including Mercedes-Benz, Citi, and Goldman Sachs. Adding Cognition to SpaceX's portfolio would have strengthened the company's enterprise footprint in AI-assisted coding.
TechCrunch reported that acquisition discussions between the companies are no longer active, though both SpaceX and Cognition are still discussing potential collaboration that possibly involves Cognition using SpaceX's computing capacity. SpaceX currently sells that capacity to other artificial intelligence companies, including Anthropic. Wu did not address this claim in his denial.