SpaceX Aggressively Targets AI Coding Talent to Scale Enterprise Value

SpaceX is aggressively pursuing a vertical integration of the AI developer stack as it attempts to close the gap with rivals like Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI, as TechCrunch first reported. According to Bloomberg, SpaceX recently attempted to acquire AI coding startup Cognition, though Cognition CEO Scott Wu has since disputed the report, stating the company is not for sale.

This reported interest follows a massive $60 billion acquisition of AI coding startup Cursor that closed last week. SpaceX and Cursor have already begun integrating, jointly releasing Grok 4.6 this month, a model designed for complex agentic tasks and coding benchmarks. The move toward AI-assisted coding is a strategic pivot toward monetization, mirroring the growth seen by Anthropic via Claude Code.

SpaceX is leveraging its massive scale to fuel these ambitions. After acquiring xAI earlier this year and completing a June IPO that saw its market capitalization peak at nearly $2.3 trillion, the company is positioning AI as its primary future value driver. Elon Musk recently informed employees that AI will represent 99% of the company's value in four to five years.

Acquiring Cognition would have provided SpaceX with the coding agent Devin and an established enterprise client list including Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Mercedes-Benz. While Bloomberg reports that acquisition talks are no longer active, the companies may still collaborate, with Cognition potentially utilizing SpaceX's computing capacity. Cognition is currently one of the few remaining independent coding startups, having recently raised $1 billion at a $25 billion valuation in May, with Bloomberg reporting new funding talks at a $40 billion valuation.