Cursor sold to xAI for $60 billion.

The founders looked at the path to $100 billion and decided they didn't want to walk it alone.

I use Cursor daily. For prototyping, data scripts, things I couldn't do without hiring a developer two years ago. A $60 billion price tag on that tool says something about where value is actually concentrating in AI.

It's not in the app layer. It's in the tools people use to build and think, and in the models underneath them. xAI gets a real user base and a massive application surface. Cursor gets compute and a sponsor that doesn't compete with the models it routes to.

The model labs are buying distribution. The tool layer is consolidating fast.

If the tools you design and build with are owned by the companies whose models power them, is the design layer still a neutral surface?