Pakistan-born Sualeh Asif’s startup Cursor in reported $60bn deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX

An artificial intelligence startup co-founded by Pakistan-born entrepreneur Sualeh Asif is set to be acquired by SpaceX in a deal valued at $60 billion, according to multiple media reports on Thursday.

Cursor, an AI-powered code-generation platform developed by US-based firm Anysphere, has gained rapid traction among software developers by automating parts of the coding process. The company operates in a competitive space alongside firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic, where demand for generative AI tools continues to expand.

According to a statement posted by SpaceX on social media platform X, the agreement grants the company the option to acquire Cursor later this year for $60bn. The statement added that if the acquisition does not materialise, SpaceX would pay $10bn for its collaboration with the startup.

The company said that combining Cursor’s software tools with SpaceX’s large-scale computing infrastructure would help accelerate the development of advanced AI models. It referred to its “Colossus” supercomputing system, which it claims offers computing power equivalent to millions of high-end AI chips.

Asif, originally from Karachi, studied at Nixor College before attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He represented Pakistan in the International Mathematical Olympiad between 2016 and 2018. During his time at MIT, he co-founded Anysphere along with fellow students.

Cursor has experienced rapid growth in recent years. The company reported more than $1bn in annualised revenue and was valued at $29.3bn in a funding round in November 2025, which was co-led by venture capital firms Accel and Coatue, according to Forbes.

The platform is used by millions of developers across tens of thousands of organisations, including major technology companies such as Nvidia, Adobe, Uber and Shopify, where it assists in generating and editing code.