Bloomberg reported that Elon Musk's SpaceX attempted to acquire AI coding startup Cognition as SpaceX works to catch up to OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google in the AI raceCITE:E1. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report said a successful deal would have been SpaceX's second major acquisition in recent monthsCITE:E14.
Scott Wu disputed the report soon after it published, writing on X that the story was inaccurateCITE:E2. Wu said Cognition "is not for sale" and stated the two companies had not been in talksCITE:E2CITE:E15.
Sources said the acquisition talks are no longer active, but that SpaceX and Cognition are still discussing working togetherCITE:E8CITE:E16. That potential collaboration involves Cognition using SpaceX's computing capacity, which SpaceX currently sells to other AI players including Anthropic until it needs that capacity for itselfCITE:E8.
Cognition, founded in 2023, builds the AI coding agent Devin, which automates portions of software engineering workflows for enterprise clientsCITE:E19. Its enterprise customer base includes Mercedes-Benz, Citi, and Goldman SachsCITE:E7, and its own website lists partnerships with Mercedes-Benz Group AG and GE AerospaceCITE:E21. Adding Cognition and Devin to its portfolio would have given SpaceX another route into AI coding and enterprise customersCITE:E7.
SpaceX closed a $60 billion acquisition of AI coding startup Cursor last weekCITE:E3CITE:E18. Earlier this year SpaceX also acquired Musk's AI company xAI, which then went public in a June IPO that pushed SpaceX's market capitalization to nearly $2.3 trillion at its peakCITE:E4.
| SpaceX 2026 AI move | Key figure |
|---|---|
| xAI acquisition + June IPO | Peak market cap ~$2.3 trillionCITE:E4 |
| Cursor acquisition (closed last week) | $60 billionCITE:E3CITE:E18 |
| Cognition talks | Reported second major deal in recent months, later deniedCITE:E14CITE:E2 |
Musk told SpaceX employees last week that AI will be "99% of the value" of the company in about four or five years, adding that reaching that target requires SpaceX to generate significantly more revenue from AICITE:E5. SpaceX merged with xAI in February 2026 to form its SpaceXAI division, which one report says still lags some competitors in the enterprise market and had already been through a round of layoffs and reorganization during its earlier xAI periodCITE:E20. This month, Cursor and SpaceX jointly released Grok 4.6, a new model that scores higher on benchmarks for coding and complex multi-step agentic tasksCITE:E6.
Cognition raised a $1 billion round in late May 2026CITE:E9CITE:E17. TechCrunch reported the round valued the company at $25 billion post-money, while Inside.com.tw cited a $26 billion figure for the same roundCITE:E9CITE:E17. Cognition is now in early talks for a new funding round at a valuation of at least $40 billionCITE:E10CITE:E17. Wu said in a May interview that the $1 billion raise let Cognition "remain independent and continue operating as an independent company, which is very important to us"CITE:E22.
| Cognition funding milestone | Figure |
|---|---|
| May 2026 round | $1 billion raisedCITE:E9 |
| Post-money valuation (TechCrunch) | $25 billionCITE:E9 |
| Post-money valuation (Inside.com.tw) | $26 billionCITE:E17 |
| New round in early talks | $40 billion+ valuationCITE:E10CITE:E17 |
Cognition acquired the remaining assets of competitor Windsurf last year in a $2.4 billion deal for talent and licensing rights, after Google DeepMind hired away Windsurf's CEO and top researchersCITE:E11. Following the merger, Cognition laid off 30 employees and offered buyouts to the remaining 200 Windsurf employeesCITE:E12. Employees who stayed faced operational expectations that included a more than 80-hour workweek and six days in the officeCITE:E12.
Taken together, the record shows Cognition raising its valuation from $25–26 billion in May to talks of $40 billion within months, while SpaceX spent the same period closing a $60 billion Cursor deal and folding xAI into a division still described as behind in enterprise reachCITE:E9CITE:E17CITE:E10CITE:E3CITE:E20. Bloomberg's own account — talks no longer active, but a computing-capacity collaboration still on the table — sits alongside, not against, Wu's public denial that a sale was ever discussedCITE:E8CITE:E2.
The two figures worth sitting with are the valuation trajectory and the computing-capacity detail. Cognition went from a $25–26 billion post-money valuation in May to early talks at $40 billion or more within roughly three months — a pace that makes it a plausible acquisition target regardless of whether this specific approach happened. Meanwhile SpaceX's own account, via the reported talks, wasn't a clean denial of any contact: it described a still-live discussion about Cognition using SpaceX's computing capacity, the same capacity SpaceX currently sells to Anthropic. That's the metric to watch — not whether an acquisition resurfaces, but whether a computing-capacity deal between the two companies actually materializes, since that would be the first concrete sign of the relationship Bloomberg described, independent of who's buying whom.
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