Cognition CEO denies SpaceX acquisition bid

Cognition CEO Scott Wu has publicly refuted reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX attempted to acquire the AI coding startup. In a post on X, Wu described the claims as inaccurate, asserting that Cognition is not for sale and that the two companies have not been in discussions regarding a merger. The denial comes days after SpaceX completed its $60 billion acquisition of rival AI coding firm Cursor, a move designed to bolster its competitive position against OpenAI and Anthropic in the enterprise AI market.

The dispute arises from a Bloomberg report citing sources familiar with the matter, which suggested SpaceX was in talks to purchase Cognition to deepen its capabilities in AI-assisted coding. While Wu denied the existence of acquisition negotiations, Bloomberg reported that the companies may still be exploring potential collaborations. These discussions could involve Cognition utilising SpaceX’s computing capacity, a resource the company is currently selling to other AI players, including Anthropic, until it requires the infrastructure for its own operations. Wu did not address this specific claim regarding ongoing collaboration in his public statement.

SpaceX has aggressively expanded its AI portfolio in recent months. Following the acquisition of Musk’s xAI earlier this year, the company went public in a blockbuster IPO in June, with its market capitalisation peaking near $2.3 trillion. SpaceX has pitched investors on ambitious AI goals, including the eventual construction of data centres in space. However, its xAI business remains early-stage and has faced challenges in winning over enterprise customers, partly due to controversies surrounding its chatbot, Grok.

The integration of Cursor into SpaceX is already yielding results. The two entities jointly released Grok 4.6, a new model that scores highly on benchmarks for coding and complex multi-step agentic tasks. Had SpaceX acquired Cognition, it would have gained access to the coding agent Devin and an enterprise customer base that includes Mercedes-Benz, Citi, and Goldman Sachs. This would have provided another avenue for SpaceX to compete for enterprise clients in a sector where Anthropic’s growth, driven by Claude Code, has been particularly rapid.

Cognition remains one of the largest independent AI software coding startups not yet absorbed by a major model maker. The company raised a $1 billion round in late May at a $25 billion post-money valuation. Bloomberg reports that Cognition is now in early talks for a new funding round at a $40 billion valuation. The startup has a history of aggressive consolidation, having acquired the remaining assets of competitor Windsurf last year after Google DeepMind acqui-hired Windsurf’s leadership and research staff in a $2.4 billion deal.

Neither SpaceX nor Cognition responded to requests for comment from TechCrunch. The denial by Wu highlights the intense competition in the AI coding sector, where major players are rapidly acquiring talent and technology to secure market share. As SpaceX seeks to translate its AI ambitions into revenue, the status of its relationship with Cognition remains a point of interest for investors watching the sector’s consolidation.