KARACHI – In a move that has sent ripples through the global tech industry, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has reportedly reached an agreement to acquire Cursor, an AI-driven code generation startup, for a staggering $60 billion in the near future. The deal highlights the extraordinary journey of Saleh Asif, a young Pakistani co-founder from Karachi, who has moved from the streets of Sindh’s capital to the pinnacle of Silicon Valley success.
SpaceX announced via a post on X (formerly Twitter) that Cursor has granted them the option to acquire the company for $60 billion within this year. As a backup, if the acquisition does not finalize, SpaceX will pay $10 billion to maintain a strategic partnership. The company stated that by merging Cursor’s software engineering expertise with SpaceX’s supercomputers, they will be able to develop the world’s most efficient and useful AI models.
According to Forbes, Saleh Asif’s roots are firmly planted in Karachi, where he attended a local college before heading to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He represented Pakistan at the International Mathematical Olympiad from 2016 to 2018. While at MIT, he co-founded Anysphere with three friends, which developed Cursor, an AI code-editing tool now rivaling giants like OpenAI and Anthropic.
The financial trajectory of the company is equally impressive. As of November 2025, Cursor was valued at $29.3 billion after securing significant investment. The company now generates over $1 billion in annual revenue and is used by developers in 50,000 companies worldwide. Saleh’s personal wealth is estimated at $1.3 billion, placing him among the 3,000 wealthiest individuals globally at just 26 years old.
Former Federal IT Minister Dr. Umar Saif lauded Saleh as the ultimate role model for Pakistani youth, noting that he is a self-made young man from a middle-class Karachi family who changed the way the world writes code. Bilal Bin Saqib, Chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, also shared his encounter with Saleh in Silicon Valley, stating that the era of AI billionaires has arrived. He emphasized that Saleh’s story is undeniable proof that Pakistani youth can achieve anything if provided with the right ecosystem, capital, and resources.
