When information broke that OpenAI was in talks to accumulate AI coding firm Windsurf for $3 billion, one of many first questions on the thoughts of anybody following the area was probably: “Why not purchase Cursor creator Anysphere as an alternative?”

In spite of everything, OpenAI Startup Fund has been an investor in Anysphere, the maker of Cursor, because the shortly rising coding assistant’s seed round in late 2023.  (Anysphere is commonly referred to by its product identify, Cursor.) It seems that OpenAI certainly approached Anysphere in 2024 and once more earlier this yr a few potential acquisition,  in response to a report from CNBC. The talks failed. As an alternative, Anysphere has been in talks to lift capital at about $10 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported final month.

OpenAI’s need to maneuver on to acquisition discussions with one other coding assistant maker alerts how vital capturing a slice of the code era market has develop into for the ChatGPT maker. Windsurf is producing about $40 million in annualized recurring income (ARR), TechCrunch reported in February. In the meantime, Anysphere’s Cursor reportedly makes about $200 million on an ARR foundation.

Whereas OpenAI’s Codex CLI “agent,” which the corporate released Wednesday, can even write and edit code, its try to purchase Windsurf suggests the corporate doesn’t need to look ahead to CLI to achieve traction with prospects.