Bloomberg reported Wednesday that SpaceX had tried to acquire AI coding startup Cognition as part of broader efforts to catch up with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Cognition CEO Scott Wu quickly disputed the story on X, calling it inaccurate and stating that Cognition “is not for sale” and that the companies have not been in talks.
Alleged acquisition and official denial
The Bloomberg report said SpaceX’s interest would have complemented its recent moves in AI, including the roughly $60 billion acquisition of Cursor, which closed last week. Wu’s message on X did not address Bloomberg’s separate claim that the companies might still explore collaboration—potentially with Cognition using SpaceX’s computing capacity.
According to the report, SpaceX has been selling excess compute to other AI firms such as Anthropic until it needs that capacity for its own use. The Bloomberg account also noted that talks between the companies are no longer active, while the two sides may continue discussions about non‑acquisition cooperation.
Context: SpaceX, xAI and Cognition’s position
The coverage places the alleged interest in the context of SpaceX’s broader AI push. SpaceX parent ventures include Musk’s AI company xAI, which completed a public offering in June and briefly reached a market capitalization reported at nearly $2.3 trillion. Bloomberg also quoted Musk telling SpaceX employees that in “four or five years, AI will be 99% of the value” of the company.
Cognition, meanwhile, remains one of the largest independent AI coding startups. The company raised $1 billion in late May at a $25 billion post‑money valuation and, Bloomberg reported, is in early talks for a new funding round at a $40 billion valuation. Cognition’s coding agent Devin and an enterprise customer list that includes Mercedes‑Benz, Citi and Goldman Sachs were cited as strategic assets.
The report also recalled past staffing changes after Cognition’s acquisition of Windsurf assets following a Google DeepMind acqui‑hire valued at $2.4 billion; Bloomberg said Cognition then cut 30 employees and offered buyouts to about 200 former Windsurf staff, with remaining employees facing demanding work expectations.
Bloomberg and Scott Wu were cited for the competing claims; SpaceX and Cognition did not provide on‑the‑record comment via the report. The companies were reported to be discussing potential cooperation rather than an active merger.
Original source: TechCrunch AI