Bloomberg reported that SpaceX had approached the startup Cognition with an acquisition offer. Within hours, Cognition CEO Scott Wu responded, writing on X that the report was not true, his company was not for sale, and it was not discussing anything of the sort with anyone.
What Bloomberg reported exactly
According to sources familiar with the situation, SpaceX approached the startup Cognition with an offer for a potential acquisition, which would represent its second major artificial intelligence purchase within a few months. Bloomberg also reported that active negotiations had ended. However, the two sides are reportedly continuing to discuss another form of cooperation under which Cognition could use SpaceX's computing capacity. For the time being, the space company is leasing this capacity to other companies in the industry, including Anthropic, until it needs it for its own purposes
Just last week, SpaceX completed the acquisition of Cursor, a startup focused on AI-assisted programming, for $60 billion in stock. It announced the deal in June, just two days after going public. If the company approached another major developer-tool maker immediately afterward, it would fit perfectly into the long-standing strategy seen across Elon Musk's companies.
Scott Wu: the company is not for sale
Wu wrote that the information was inaccurate, that he had great respect for SpaceX, but Cognition was not for sale and was not discussing anything with the other party. His statement goes a step further than Bloomberg's report itself. Bloomberg spoke of an approach to which Cognition did not respond, not of ongoing talks at the negotiating table. The difference between “someone called us and we ignored it" and “no one called us" is significant.
Moreover, Wu did not address the second part of the report at all, namely the potential computing-capacity agreement. Neither SpaceX nor Cognition responded to journalists' inquiries.
This is not true. Huge respect for the SpaceX team but Cognition is not for sale and we haven't been talking. https://t.co/U5Y0pPx4Gw
— Scott Wu (@ScottWu46) August 19, 2026
Why SpaceX might pursue Cognition
Cognition is the company behind Devin, a coding assistant designed to independently handle tasks that would otherwise take developers hours. The company's customers include Mercedes-Benz, Citi, and Goldman Sachs, precisely the kind of major corporations SpaceX needs to compete for. An acquisition would therefore give it not only the technology, but above all a foothold in companies where decisions about large budgets are made.
AI-assisted programming has proven to be one of the few ways to actually make money from this technology so far. This is demonstrated by Anthropic's rapid growth, driven largely by Claude Code. Cursor was intended to be SpaceX's answer, and the two teams began working together even before the deal was completed. This month, the companies released the Grok 4.6 model, which performs better in tests involving both code writing and more complex multi-step tasks.
Musk is betting on what SpaceX actually is
SpaceX acquired the startup xAI in February 2026 and subsequently went public in June, with its market value briefly surpassing $2.5 trillion at its peak. It is offering investors an artificial intelligence-based strategy that also includes an ambitious plan to build orbital data centers. Elon Musk recently told employees that within five years, this technology would account for ninety-nine percent of the company's total value. For this plan to succeed, however, the division must generate significantly higher revenue than it does today.
The current reality is more modest, however, as activities surrounding the xAI startup are still at an early stage and lag behind its biggest competitors. The situation is further complicated by repeated controversies involving the Grok chatbot, including last year's incident involving antisemitic statements and the scandal surrounding the generation of intimate images without the consent of the people depicted. These events do little to inspire confidence among companies considering integrating the technology into their internal systems.
Cognition's market position
Cognition is one of the last major independent startups in the field that has not yet been absorbed by any of the major model developers. Last year, the company attracted attention by acquiring the remaining assets of rival project Windsurf after Google DeepMind hired its CEO and key researchers as part of a $2.4 billion transaction. Following the merger, management laid off thirty employees and offered severance packages to the remaining two hundred. Those who chose to stay had to accept a workweek of more than eighty hours, with six days spent in the office. A similar regime would surprise no one at any Elon Musk company, as he himself often speaks about the need to work up to 120 hours a week and sleep directly at the workplace.
The reason the startup has no incentive to sell is evident from its financial situation. At the end of May, it raised $1 billion at a valuation of around $25 billion, and according to Bloomberg, it is now also holding preliminary talks about another funding round, this time at a valuation of $40 billion. A company whose market valuation is growing at such a rapid pace has far less reason to seek a strategic buyer.
Source: techcrunch.com
