SpaceX has agreed to acquire startup Cursor in a $60 billion deal, the latest move in Elon Musk’s push to close the gap with rivals on AI-powered coding tools.

A regulatory filing today (16 June) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed Cursor investors will receive SpaceX stock based on the implied $60 billion equity value of the startup.

The transaction, which converts an earlier option into a binding merger agreement, is expected to close in Q3. After gaining regulatory approvals, Cursor will become a wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceX. The filing was signed by SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen.

The deal came a week after SpaceX completed the largest initial public offering in history.

Bloomberg reported the Cursor acquisition is central to SpaceX’s ambitions for its AI business.

The news outlet noted Musk has publicly acknowledged xAI, which is now part of SpaceX’s operations, trails rivals including Anthropic and OpenAI on coding capabilities.

Bloomberg also reported SpaceX’s AI unit has been hit by internal turmoil, with dozens of departures across engineering and data training and ongoing difficulty recruiting top talent, prompting Elon Musk to bring in leadership from Starlink to steady the business.

It also noted US-based Cursor, whose AI coding assistant launched in 2023, has become one of the fastest-growing coding startups by helping developers write and debug software through chatbot prompts.

Before SpaceX moved to acquire the company, Cursor was reportedly in talks for a funding round that would have valued it at more than $50 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The post SpaceX seals $60B Cursor deal to boost AI coding appeared first on Mobile World Live.

The TM Forum added satellite to an existing framework for digital networks in recognition of forecasts space-based connectivity is poised to become a significant earner over the next 10 years.

Companies including Rakuten Group, Huawei and Netcracker Technology are joined by operators Telekom Deutschland and Vodacom Group among the initial members of the Open Digital Architecture (ODA) for Satellite initiative.

The standards organisation stated the full potential of satellite for services including IoT and direct-to-device connectivity is being held back by various incompatibilities between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks, highlighting billing systems and requirements for specialised devices as examples.

Dr Ryan van den Bergh, managing executive for group technology strategy, architecture, spectrum and assurance at Vodacom, said “greater interoperability and simpler integration” are needed to capitalise on the “significant opportunities” to use satellite connectivity as a complement to ground-based networks.

The TM Forum’s existing ODA covers digitalisation measures spanning automation and intelligence. It stated the satellite element adds standard frameworks, operating models and governance for companies working in the terrestrial and non-terrestrial sectors.

It expects the architecture to lay the groundwork for “seamless multi-orbit service delivery” along with speeding integration and boosting the overall value of space and land-based infrastructure.

Willie Stegmann, the body’s EVP for composable IT and ecosystems, said ODA for Satellite is “a call to action” for the telecoms industry.

The group is “overcoming challenges and unlocking avenues for growth…before operating models, customer ownership and value chains are defined elsewhere”.

The post TM Forum tackles satellite integration appeared first on Mobile World Live.