--- title: "OpenAI says it will end Cursor's model deal on November 12; Anthropic offers to replace it" description: "OpenAI's shutoff date for Cursor lands on November 12, and the five percent of traffic it removes is the smallest part of what is being tested: a $60 billion acquisition built on selling rival labs' models, owned by a company that also leases them their compute." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Model" published: 2026-11-06T14:18:29.015Z modified: 2026-11-06T14:18:29.015Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/openai-says-it-will-end-cursor-s-model-deal-on-november-12-anthropic-offers-to-replace-it language: en keywords: "OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX, Cursor, Model APIs, AI Coding" --- # OpenAI says it will end Cursor's model deal on November 12; Anthropic offers to replace it > OpenAI's shutoff date for Cursor lands on November 12, and the five percent of traffic it removes is the smallest part of what is being tested: a $60 billion acquisition built on selling rival labs' models, owned by a company that also leases them their compute. [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai) has six days left on Cursor. On October 30 it told [SpaceX](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/spacex), which [bought Cursor's parent Anysphere for about $60 billion in stock in August](https://theinference.org/article/musk-paid-60-billion-for-cursor-openai-just-hired-its-two-top-sellers), that it will wind down its model agreement and [proposed a shutoff date of November 12](https://cursorhq.ai/news/openai-plans-to-end-its-cursor-deal-nov-12-as-talks-continue-53ea21/), the maximum notice the contract allows [1]. The revenue at risk is small; the question it forces is not. [Cursor](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/anysphere)'s whole pitch to its 50,000-plus teams is neutrality: it sells Claude, Gemini and [xAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/xai) models without picking a winner [2]. A $60 billion asset built on that pitch now has one less leg under it [2]. ## Anthropic is the replacement, and also the landlord's best customer OpenAI's stated reason is trust, not price: it says it cannot be confident SpaceX would honor its terms, citing X and xAI breaching their own OpenAI contracts [1]. Cursor co-founder [Michael Truell](https://theinference.org/markets/people/michael-truell), now a SpaceX executive, says talks are under way; Musk answered that he "couldn't care less" [1]. Truell has put a number on the exposure: OpenAI models serve about 5% of Cursor traffic [7]. Within hours of the notice, [Anthropic](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/anthropic), which is not a neutral party, [offered Cursor increased compute and higher Claude usage limits](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmarkman/2026/08/31/openai-cuts-off-cursor-after-spacexs-60-billion-takeover/) [7]. That replacement is the part no filing prices. Anthropic already pays SpaceX about [$1.25 billion a month to lease Colossus capacity](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/329522/20261027/spacex-signs-record-40b-apollo-gpu-financing-nvidia-vera-rubin-chips-topping-anthropics-deal.htm), and Google about $920 million a month for GPUs [4]. What Cursor pays Anthropic for model calls partly flows back to its own owner as compute rent. Neutrality survives, but as an internal transfer inside the Super Intelligence segment, which earned $7.56 billion in the third quarter, about half of SpaceX's revenue [4]. *Chart: **Cursor's annualized revenue grew 26-fold in 17 months** Line chart of Cursor annualized B2B revenue rising from about $100 million in January 2025 to over $1 billion in November 2025 and about $2.6 billion by June 2026.* *Annualized business-to-business revenue. Source: AI Magazine. [2]* ## No filing yet prices what OpenAI leaves behind The balance sheet carries the bet. SpaceX's [goodwill jumped to $48.4 billion from $11.8 billion at year-end](https://www.minichart.com.sg/2026/10/22/spacex-10-q-51-3b-cash-254b-assets-anysphere-acquisition/), mostly Cursor, and no filing yet shows what the OpenAI agreement was worth [3]. Cursor is meanwhile turning model calls into unit economics: [its November 5 release builds and hosts live apps](https://cursor.com/changelog) with databases and authentication inside the editor [6]. Watch November 12, not the press releases [4]. If Cursor's usage holds with OpenAI gone, the shutoff proves frontier-model access has become a purchasing decision, and Anthropic, the supplier that is also the landlord's best customer, wins the traffic. If it does not, the neutrality discount belongs on SpaceX's $40 billion GPU lease too [4]. ## Takeaway OpenAI's November 12 shutoff of Cursor tests whether a $60 billion neutral platform can survive without a frontier lab's blessing; Anthropic, SpaceX's best compute customer, is offering to fill the gap. ## Sources 1. [Cursor HQ, OpenAI Plans to End Its Cursor Deal Nov. 12 as Talks Continue, 6 November 2026](https://cursorhq.ai/news/openai-plans-to-end-its-cursor-deal-nov-12-as-talks-continue-53ea21/) 2. [AI Magazine, Cursor: The AI Coding Agent SpaceX Bought in a US$60bn Deal, 29 October 2026](https://aimagazine.com/news/cursor-the-ai-coding-agent-spacex-bought-in-a-us-60bn-deal) 3. [Minichart, SpaceX 10-Q: $51.3B Cash, $254B Assets, Anysphere Acquisition, 22 October 2026](https://www.minichart.com.sg/2026/10/22/spacex-10-q-51-3b-cash-254b-assets-anysphere-acquisition/) 4. [TechTimes, SpaceX Signs Record $40B Apollo GPU Financing for Nvidia Vera Rubin Chips, 27 October 2026](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/329522/20261027/spacex-signs-record-40b-apollo-gpu-financing-nvidia-vera-rubin-chips-topping-anthropics-deal.htm) 6. [Cursor Changelog, Build and share live apps in Cursor, 5 November 2026](https://cursor.com/changelog) 7. [Forbes, OpenAI Cuts Off Cursor After SpaceX's $60 Billion Takeover, 31 August 2026](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmarkman/2026/08/31/openai-cuts-off-cursor-after-spacexs-60-billion-takeover/) --- OpenAI says it will end Cursor's model deal on November 12; Anthropic offers to replace it — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/openai-says-it-will-end-cursor-s-model-deal-on-november-12-anthropic-offers-to-replace-it