What smart people are saying about SpaceX's $60 billion deal with Cursor: 'The Hunger Games have just begun'

SpaceX's multibillion-dollar deal with AI coding startup Cursor marks a colossal step for Elon Musk and his ambitions to win the AI race.

The space company, which owns AI startup xAi, said in an X post on Tuesday that it's working with Cursor to "create the world's best coding and knowledge work AI."

"The combination of Cursor's leading product and distribution to expert software engineers with SpaceX's million H100 equivalent Colossus training supercomputer will allow us to build the world's most useful models," the company said.

Cursor cofounder Michael Truell said on X that he was excited to work with SpaceX to scale Composer, its AI-powered coding model.

As part of the deal, SpaceX gains the right to acquire Cursor later this year for $60 billion, or pay Cursor $10 million for the work they produce together.

Partnering with Cursor could be a crucial step for Musk to get ahead of rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic, whose AI models hold a significant market share.

Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002, has made serious strides in AI this year. Chief among them is SpaceX's February acquisition of Musk's xAI, which helped SpaceX expand into AI infrastructure and software. In April, SpaceX confidentially filed for an IPO, boosting gains in other space stocks and teasing a public debut this year.

News of the Cursor deal electrified chatter among business and tech industry professionals on social media, many of whom viewed it as a symbiotic match. Here's what people in tech are saying about how the deal could shake up Silicon Valley.