Scott Wu has rejected a report that Elon Musk’s SpaceX attempted to acquire Cognition, the AI coding company behind Devin, saying the startup is not for sale and that the two companies have not been in talks. Wu, Cognition’s co-founder and chief executive officer, addressed the report on August 19, 2026, shortly after Bloomberg reported that SpaceX had pursued the startup.
The report emerged as SpaceX expands its position in artificial intelligence following its recently completed $60 billion acquisition of Cursor, another AI coding startup. The development has placed fresh attention on SpaceX’s broader AI strategy and the independent companies operating in the rapidly growing coding-agent market.
Scott Wu Pushes Back on Cognition Acquisition Report
According to TechCrunch, Bloomberg reported that SpaceX had attempted to acquire Cognition, citing people familiar with the matter. Scott Wu disputed the account soon afterward in a post on X.
Wu said the report was inaccurate, stating that Cognition “is not for sale” and that the companies had not been in talks. His response directly challenged the central claim that SpaceX had pursued an acquisition of the AI startup.
SpaceX and Cognition had not responded to TechCrunch’s requests for comment at the time of publication.
Why Scott Wu’s Statement Matters
The dispute comes only days after SpaceX completed its acquisition of Cursor for $60 billion. Cursor and SpaceX had already been working together before the transaction closed, and the companies jointly released Grok 4.6 this month, with the model reported to perform strongly on coding and complex multi-step agentic tasks.
SpaceX has also communicated ambitious plans for artificial intelligence. Musk told SpaceX employees the previous week that AI could account for 99% of the company’s value in roughly four or five years, according to the report. SpaceX has also discussed eventually developing data centers in space.
Those developments provide context for why an alleged approach to Cognition attracted attention. However, Scott Wu’s public denial means the reported acquisition attempt should not be presented as an agreed or ongoing transaction.
Cognition’s Position in AI Coding
Cognition has emerged as a major independent player in AI-assisted software development through its Devin coding agent. The company also has an enterprise customer base that includes Mercedes-Benz, Citi and Goldman Sachs, according to TechCrunch.
The company raised $1 billion in late May at a post-money valuation of $25 billion. Bloomberg, as cited by TechCrunch, reported that Cognition was in early discussions for another funding round at a potential $40 billion valuation.
Cognition also expanded through its acquisition of the remaining assets of Windsurf after Google DeepMind hired the startup’s CEO and leading research personnel through a $2.4 billion deal involving talent and licensing rights.
SpaceX’s AI Expansion Continues
The Cognition report surfaced against a broader push by SpaceX into AI. Earlier this year, SpaceX acquired xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, and the combined business later went public in June. Its market capitalization reached nearly $2.3 trillion at its peak, according to TechCrunch.
SpaceX’s acquisition of Cursor has already given the company a significant position in AI coding. The reported Cognition approach would have represented another potential expansion into coding agents and enterprise software, but Scott Wu has explicitly rejected the claim that Cognition is being sold or that the two companies have held acquisition talks.
For now, the confirmed development is Wu’s denial rather than an acquisition agreement. Any further details about a possible commercial relationship between SpaceX and Cognition remain unconfirmed, although Bloomberg reported that the companies could still discuss working together, including potential use of SpaceX computing capacity. Wu did not specifically address that claim in his denial.
This news has been compiled using information gathered from various platforms and is intended for general informational purposes only.