TL;DR
SpaceX exercised its option on June 16, 2026, to buy Anysphere, maker of Cursor, for $60 billion in stock, according to filing details cited by Thorsten Meyer AI. The deal gives SpaceX a paid AI coding app and developer distribution, but the central question is whether Grok can catch up to rivals that already rent SpaceX compute.
SpaceX exercised its option to buy Anysphere, the maker of the AI coding agent Cursor, for $60 billion in all-stock, according to filing details cited by Thorsten Meyer AI, adding one of AI’s fastest-growing paid software products to a business that already controls large-scale compute, power infrastructure and the Grok model line.
The transaction calls for Cursor shares to convert into SpaceX Class A shares, with Anysphere becoming a wholly owned subsidiary if the deal closes in Q3 2026. The cited filing details say SpaceX had previously secured the right to buy Cursor for $60 billion or pay a $10 billion alternative fee tied to the companies’ work together.
Cursor is described as generating roughly $4 billion in annualized revenue by early June, up from $2 billion in February. That growth puts it in a rare group of AI apps with meaningful paying business demand, especially in software development. The source account says Cursor had rebuffed approaches from OpenAI and Microsoft before the SpaceX deal.
Cursor CEO Michael Truell described the tie-up as an effort to build the world’s most useful AI models
, with a jointly trained model planned for Cursor and Grok Build. That model release is a company claim, not a result yet available for independent comparison.
SpaceX owns every layer
of AI now
The $60B Cursor buy completes the stack: power, compute, research, model, app, distribution. But owning every layer isn’t winning every layer — and the model is the weak one.
(Anysphere)
You can buy a coding app and a model team. You can’t buy the research lead that makes your foundation model the one everyone else builds on — which is why Anthropic pays Musk $1.25B/month, not the other way around. Owning every layer bought SpaceX the right to attempt the hard thing. It hasn’t done it yet.
A Full Stack With Gaps
The acquisition matters because it turns SpaceX’s AI push from an infrastructure story into a distribution story. Before Cursor, SpaceX could point to Colossus compute, on-site power, xAI research and Grok. Cursor adds a paid developer product, enterprise users and a channel for putting model upgrades directly into daily coding workflows.
It also sharpens the weakness identified by the cited analysis: the model layer. The same account says Anthropic and Google are leasing Colossus 1 capacity while Grok training shifted to Colossus 2 after xAI struggled to parallelize training on the mixed H100, H200 and GB200 build. If rival labs keep paying SpaceX for compute while producing stronger models, SpaceX becomes a powerful AI landlord without yet proving it can make the foundation model others choose first.
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How Cursor Became The Target
Anysphere was founded in 2022 by four MIT graduates and built Cursor into a coding assistant used by developers and businesses willing to pay for AI help inside software work. Thorsten Meyer AI says its annualized revenue doubled from February to early June, reflecting the strength of coding tools within the broader AI software market.
SpaceX’s AI assets expanded earlier in 2026 when xAI was folded into the company, bringing the Grok model line and research staff under the same corporate structure as the Colossus supercomputers in Memphis. The cited analysis says the Memphis site includes about 555,000 Nvidia GPUs and roughly 2 gigawatts of power capacity, with the first 100,000-GPU cluster built in 122 days.
“the world’s most useful AI models”
— Cursor CEO Michael Truell
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Grok Still Faces Its Test
Two issues are unsettled. First, the deal has not closed; it is expected in Q3 2026, and any closing conditions or regulatory review could affect timing. Second, the technical payoff is unproven. The cited analysis frames Grok as underperforming relative to SpaceX’s compute footprint, but it does not provide independent benchmark results for the forthcoming jointly trained model.
Utilization and leasing claims also need careful treatment. Thorsten Meyer AI cites a reported internal xAI memo saying Colossus 1 ran at about 11% utilization. It also cites lease figures of $1.25 billion per month from Anthropic through May 2029 and $920 million per month from Google through June 2029. Those figures are attributed to filings and the cited memo, not to independent testing of cluster performance.
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Q3 Closing And Model Release
The next milestone is closing, expected in Q3 2026. Readers should watch for final transaction terms, any disclosures on Cursor’s operating results, and whether SpaceX keeps Cursor’s product and enterprise relationships separate enough to avoid customer churn.
The larger test is the promised co-trained model for Cursor and Grok Build. If it narrows the quality gap with leading coding models, the acquisition will look like a way to turn SpaceX’s infrastructure into software revenue. If it does not, the company may still own scarce compute and a valuable coding app while relying on rivals to show what that compute can do.
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Key Questions
What did SpaceX buy?
SpaceX agreed to buy Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, for $60 billion in stock. If closed, Cursor becomes a wholly owned subsidiary.
Why is Cursor valuable to SpaceX?
Cursor gives SpaceX a paid AI coding product, a developer user base and a model team. It also gives Grok a direct application where coding model gains can be tested with customers.
Does this mean Grok is ahead in AI coding?
No. The cited source says a co-trained Cursor and Grok model is planned, but it has not provided independent performance results. Model quality remains the open test.
Why are Anthropic and Google part of the story?
The cited analysis says both companies lease capacity from SpaceX’s Colossus 1 cluster. That supports the view that SpaceX’s infrastructure is strong even if its own model performance is still disputed.
When could the deal close?
The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2026, according to the cited deal terms. Until then, closing conditions and integration plans remain open.
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
