Can Cursor Remain an Open Platform After SpaceX Acquisition?

Last month, SpaceX announced a deal to acquire popular AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion. While investors saw the acquisition as a win-win, giving Cursor access to SpaceX's computing power and SpaceX a leading developer tool, the future of Cursor's platform openness remains uncertain.

Cursor has long relied on third-party AI models—including those from Anthropic and OpenAI—to power its coding assistant, allowing users to choose the best or cheapest option. The company hopes to maintain this model-agnostic approach after the deal closes, but doubts persist given the competitive dynamics.

Some analysts question whether OpenAI and Anthropic will continue to supply models to a company owned by Elon Musk, a rival. Historically, Anthropic cut off access to coding startup Windsurf after OpenAI attempted to acquire it. However, Anthropic recently struck a multi-billion-dollar compute deal with SpaceX, suggesting possible cooperation.

OpenAI's startup fund, an early investor in Cursor, stands to gain SpaceX stock from the acquisition, which may encourage continued partnership. Meanwhile, Palantir CEO Alex Karp recently highlighted concerns about vendor lock-in, and Factory CTO Eno Reyes noted that model independence is critical for Fortune 500 clients.

Cursor has already partnered with SpaceX to train its next AI model with 10–20 times more computing power than before. The company is also expanding beyond coding to serve graphic designers and other users. Although smaller coding startups struggle to compete with subsidized pricing from OpenAI and Anthropic, Cursor may now offer aggressive pricing as part of SpaceX.

As Wired's Maxwell Zeff argues, Cursor may be better off inside SpaceX even if it loses access to rival models. If the company can balance collaboration and competition, this acquisition could be one of the defining deals of the AI era.