CNBC reported on April 22 that Microsoft had considered acquiring AI coding startup Cursor but later abandoned the idea, before SpaceX moved to secure the right to acquire Cursor for $60 billion.
Microsoft reviewed acquiring Cursor to strengthen its competitiveness in AI tools, but dropped out of the bidding. It has built a foothold in the developer market with GitHub Copilot, but the AI coding market is being led by Cursor, Anthropic and OpenAI. Microsoft shares are down 10 percent this year, lagging other big tech companies.
SpaceX said this week on X, formerly Twitter, that it signed a contract with terms to acquire Cursor for $60 billion this year, or pay $10 billion if the deal falls through. Cursor Chief Executive Michael Truell (마이클 트루엘) said, "I am excited to work with the SpaceX team to grow Composer."
SpaceX has provided Cursor with opportunities to access computing resources even before this announcement. CNBC, citing sources, reported that the deal between SpaceX and Cursor came at the last stage of Cursor's closing its investment round, leaving investors who had sought to join the round wrong-footed.
Chi-gyu Hwang
delight@d-today.co.kr