The Consequences of SpaceX’s Latest A.I. Moonshot

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Newsletter

DealBook

The Consequences of SpaceX’s Latest A.I. Moonshot

Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite internet titan may pay $60 billion for an A.I. coding start-up. It further clouds SpaceX’s once-simple business plan.

Share full article

By

Andrew Ross Sorkin

Bernhard Warner

Sarah Kessler

Michael J. de la Merced

Niko Gallogly

Brian O’Keefe

and

Jessica Testa

April 22, 2026,

7:52 a.m. ET

See more of our coverage in your search results.

Encuentra más de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de búsqueda.

Add The New York Times on Google

Agrega The New York Times en Google

Image

Image

SpaceX increasingly isn’t just about space anymore.

Credit...

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

In today's newsletter:

SpaceX’s risky coding bet

Robinhood’s venture fund buys into OpenAI

On sock puppets and a potential Fed compromise

“We deeply regret that this has occurred.”

Substack grows abroad

Andrew here.

SpaceX’s potential acquisition of the coding start-up Cursor is raising a lot of eyebrows on Wednesday. Skeptics see it as a way for Elon Musk to shore up xAI, which SpaceX bought recently and which Musk has said needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Some SpaceX investors grumbled about how the xAI deal diluted their stock holdings. But most will probably keep quiet if the Cursor deal happens, because they are still likely to make huge profits if SpaceX goes public this year at the $2 trillion valuation it’s hoping for.

Image

SpaceX’s risky coding bet

Three months ago, the promise of a SpaceX I.P.O. for investors was being able to buy a piece of Elon Musk’s industry-leading rocket and satellite internet business.

That proposition was tested in February when the company bought xAI, Musk’s money-losing artificial intelligence lab. It’s happening again as SpaceX

considers spending $60 billion for Cursor

, a coding start-up — another sign of Musk

shifting his focus to A.I.

What’s happening:

SpaceX wrote on social media that it had

started working with Cursor

to “create the world’s best coding and knowledge work AI.” In other words, Cursor, which has said it

lacks computing resources

, will get access to SpaceX’s technological firepower.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and

log into

your Times account, or

subscribe

for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?

Log in

.

Want all of The Times?

Subscribe

.

Related Content

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT