Cognition CEO Refutes Allegations of SpaceX Pursuing Acquisition of the Company

A Wednesday report from Bloomberg indicates that Elon Musk’s SpaceX is seeking to acquire the AI coding startup Cognition in a bid to enhance its competitiveness against entities like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google within the artificial intelligence sector.

In response to the report, Cognition CEO Scott Wu took to X to reject the allegations, stating that the claims were misleading and reiterating that Cognition “is not for sale.” He also confirmed that there have been no discussions between the two companies.

This news comes on the heels of SpaceX’s recent completion of a $60 billion acquisition of another AI coding startup, Cursor, just last week.

Earlier this year, SpaceX also took over Musk’s AI venture, xAI, which garnered attention after a successful IPO in June, achieving a peak market capitalization of nearly $2.3 trillion.

SpaceX’s aspirations in the AI field are clear, with ambitions to construct data centers in space. Nevertheless, their xAI project is still in its formative phase and currently trails behind its competitors.

The company has encountered difficulties with its chatbot Grok, which has been embroiled in several controversies, including the “MechaHitler” incident last year and issues this year related to nonconsensual sexual imagery, all while striving to secure enterprise clients.

Recently, Musk conveyed to SpaceX staff that “in four or five years, AI will account for 99% of the company’s value,” although accomplishing this will require significant revenue growth sourced from AI.

AI-assisted coding is proving to be an essential pathway for technology monetization, as demonstrated by Anthropic’s swift expansion, fueled largely by Claude Code. The acquisition of Cursor is a strategic move in this direction, especially since the two firms had collaborated prior to finalizing the deal. This month, Cursor and SpaceX introduced Grok 4.6, a new model that excels in coding benchmarks and complex multi-step tasks.

Integrating Cognition, which includes its coding agent Devin and serves major clients like Mercedes-Benz, Citi, and Goldman Sachs, would provide SpaceX greater opportunities to fortify its foothold in AI coding and attract significant clientele.

While Bloomberg reports that talks regarding the acquisition have ended, there is still the potential for collaborative initiatives, such as Cognition possibly leveraging SpaceX’s computing resources, which are currently being allocated to other AI firms like Anthropic until SpaceX’s own needs increase. Wu did not specifically address this claim in his remarks.

Cognition is notable as one of the largest independent AI coding startups yet to be acquired by a primary AI model developer. In late May, the company secured $1 billion in funding at a valuation of $25 billion and is reportedly in preliminary discussions for another financing round, which is expected to value it at $40 billion.

Cognition gained attention last year after acquiring the remaining assets of rival Windsurf in a $2.4 billion agreement with Google DeepMind, leading to the acqui-hire of Windsurf’s CEO and key researchers.

Post-merger, Cognition opted to lay off 30 employees and offered buyout packages to the remaining 200 Windsurf staff. Those who decided to stay faced rigorous operational demands, including an 80-hour workweek and six days in the office.

This intense work culture mirrors Musk’s well-documented reputation for long hours; he has mentioned working up to 120 hours per week and often sleeping at work or on the factory floor.

Neither SpaceX nor Cognition responded to requests for comments.