Anthropic keeps Claude in SpaceX owned Cursor

Anthropic is keeping Claude available in Cursor after SpaceX acquired the coding tool, despite a compute agreement worth $1.25 billion a month. The New Stack reports that Anthropic still considers Cursor a trusted partner and plans to expand support for its models.

OpenAI, by contrast, plans to cut Cursor’s direct access to its models in November. The split puts Anthropic’s commercial relationship with SpaceX at the center of a dispute involving AI models, coding tools, and computing capacity.

At a glance

• Cursor will continue using Claude models after SpaceX completed its $60 billion acquisition of the coding tool, while OpenAI plans to end Cursor’s direct access to OpenAI models in November.
• Anthropic’s compute arrangement covers Colossus and Colossus II, about 325,000 Nvidia GPUs, and monthly payments of $1.25 billion scheduled through May 2029, subject to termination rights.
• The decision contrasts with Anthropic’s reported cutoff of Windsurf after rumors of an OpenAI deal and its reported restriction on xAI staff using Claude through Cursor.

The public endorsement creates a direct tension in Anthropic’s strategy. SpaceX now owns both Cursor and xAI, placing it alongside Anthropic in coding tools and foundation models, while Anthropic is buying substantial infrastructure from SpaceX. The arrangement appears to make continued access more valuable than applying the same competitor policy used elsewhere.

OpenAI tied its November decision to two earlier Musk company disputes

OpenAI announced the planned cutoff late on Friday, shortly after SpaceX’s $60 billion acquisition of Cursor closed. The company pointed to Twitter’s alleged breach of a data-licensing agreement after Elon Musk took over the social network in 2022, as well as Musk’s admission under oath earlier this year that xAI had partly used OpenAI models through distillation.

OpenAI said the decision was difficult because its models should remain broadly available to developers. It said experience with Musk’s companies violating contracts meant OpenAI could not be confident that SpaceX would use its technology within the company’s terms of service.

Anthropic’s Cursor endorsement contrasts with its treatment of Windsurf

Anthropic co-founder and chief compute officer Tom Brown responded within hours of OpenAI’s statement. On August 29, he called Cursor a trusted partner since Claude Sonnet 3.5 and said Anthropic would continue increasing compute for Claude models in Cursor, adding that Anthropic was excited about the company’s next phase with SpaceX.

Anthropic handled Windsurf differently in May 2025, after reports said OpenAI was discussing a $3 billion acquisition of the coding tool. Within weeks, Windsurf said Anthropic had cut its direct access to Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Claude 3.7 Sonnet. Anthropic co-founder Jared Kaplan later said it would be odd for Anthropic to sell Claude to OpenAI, while Google ultimately paid $2.4 billion to hire Windsurf’s founders and research and development staff into DeepMind.

Anthropic’s SpaceX compute deal covers about 325,000 Nvidia GPUs

On May 6, Anthropic announced that it had secured the entire output of SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data center near Memphis, Tennessee. The arrangement covered more than 300 megawatts of compute and over 220,000 Nvidia GPUs. Anthropic had faced limited availability, and the agreement helped it raise usage limits for Claude Pro and Max subscribers almost overnight.

SpaceX’s IPO filing later said Anthropic had agreed to pay $1.25 billion a month for compute across Colossus and Colossus II, about 325,000 Nvidia GPUs combined, through May 2029, subject to termination rights. Replit CEO Amjad Masad and Pragmatic Engineer author Gergely Orosz both contrasted Anthropic’s support for Cursor with its earlier actions involving Windsurf, with Orosz describing SpaceX’s position as unusually strong because Anthropic depends on its infrastructure.

The Colossus contract sets the clock

Anthropic’s public position currently covers continued Claude support for Cursor, while the compute agreement is scheduled to run through May 2029. The material does not specify whether Anthropic would change that policy if SpaceX’s ownership of Cursor or xAI led to a new conflict over model access, contracts, or competitive use.