Cognition CEO Walid Traboulsi denied reports that SpaceX pursued an acquisition of the AI coding startup, contradicting claims that Elon Musk's company had entered serious negotiations. The denial came after TechCrunch reported SpaceX was in talks to buy Cognition, maker of the Devin AI coding assistant.
The timing reflects SpaceX's broader push into enterprise AI infrastructure. The company recently acquired Cursor, a popular AI code editor that competes with GitHub Copilot. That deal signals SpaceX's intent to build internal AI capabilities and vertically integrate coding tools as it races to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic, which dominate the enterprise AI market.
Cognition raised $2 billion in a Series B round in October 2024, valuing the company at $5.5 billion. The startup's Devin product gained traction by offering autonomous AI agents capable of handling complex software engineering tasks end-to-end. That valuation and traction would make acquisition costly, though not impossible for SpaceX or other deep-pocketed acquirers.
SpaceX's Cursor acquisition marked a strategic shift into developer tools. Cursor positions itself as a Claude-powered alternative to GitHub Copilot, built on Anthropic's Claude model. The company acquired it at an undisclosed price, but sources suggested the deal valued Cursor in the hundreds of millions.
The reported Cognition talks, whether genuine or not, reveal how AI tooling has become a competitive flashpoint. SpaceX needs AI capabilities to power autonomous systems across its Starlink satellite network, manufacturing, and launch operations. Acquiring proven developer tools and AI agents shortens the timeline versus building from scratch.
Traboulsi's denial protects Cognition's independence and signals confidence in the company's standalone trajectory.