OpenAI is planning to purchase the AI start-up Windsurf for around three billion US dollars. This is the company's response to increasing competition for AI tools for software developers.
According to Bloomberg, OpenAI has reached an agreement with Windsurf, but the deal has not yet been finalized. Both companies declined to comment on the pending acquisition.
Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan hinted at the news with a cryptic post on X, writing, "Big announcement tomorrow!" just hours before word of the OpenAI deal broke—suggesting he was foreshadowing the $3 billion agreement.
Windsurf, previously known as Codeium, develops an AI-driven coding tool that lets users generate source code from natural language prompts. Last year, the company was valued at $1.25 billion after a funding round led by General Catalyst.
More recently, Windsurf held talks with investors including Kleiner Perkins and General Catalyst about new funding at a $3 billion valuation—the same figure OpenAI is now reportedly willing to pay.
If the deal goes through, it would mark OpenAI's largest acquisition so far. Previously, the ChatGPT developer bought Rockset, a database technology provider, for several hundred million dollars.
OpenAI steps up competition with GitHub Copilot and Claude Code
AI-powered coding assistants have become one of the top use cases for large language models, right alongside text generation. A wave of specialized tools now offers developers streamlined interfaces and a wider range of coding models—including OpenAI's own—making these assistants more practical than the standard ChatGPT interface.
Microsoft's GitHub Copilot remains the dominant player in this space. At the same time, Anthropic's Claude Code has become a serious rival, reportedly taking market share from OpenAI. Startups are also gaining traction: Anysphere's code assistant Cursor carries a $9 billion valuation.
The Windsurf deal comes on the heels of OpenAI closing a $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank Group, raising the company's valuation to $300 billion. Just a day before news of the acquisition surfaced, OpenAI announced it would maintain its nonprofit-backed structure instead of switching to a traditional for-profit model.
