SpaceX buys Cursor for $60B, AI tooling valuations defy gravity

SpaceX is acquiring Cursor, the AI code editor, for $60 billion. That number is staggering on its own, but the detail that killed the thread is that SpaceX is spending roughly 80% of its most recent fundraise on a single IDE. The SEC filings confirm the merger, and commenters noted this had been telegraphed weeks earlier with deal terms tied to future stock price.

The pattern here: AI coding tools have quietly become some of the most valuable software businesses in history, not because they are infrastructure or platforms, but because they sit directly in the workflow of every developer on earth. Cursor specifically has earned this with product-led growth and genuine quality. But $60B for a coding assistant forces the question of whether we are in a valuation bubble specifically around developer tools, or whether SpaceX sees something structural about owning the environment where software gets written.

Counterpoint from the thread: some people think this is strategically bizarre, not transformative. An aerospace company owning an IDE is a strange vertical integration. But Elon's track record of buying things that look off-strategy (Twitter, anyone) and the way Starlink quietly became critical infrastructure suggests dismissing this outright is risky.