AIMPACT News, May 14 (UTC+8): According to monitoring by Beating, Reuters, citing informed sources, reported that Microsoft is actively seeking and negotiating acquisitions of AI startups to hoard top talent in preparation for independent development in the “post-OpenAI era.” Internally, Microsoft has set a goal to launch its own cutting-edge large model by next year. This acquisition spree is extremely aggressive—even targeting competitors to its own GitHub Copilot. This spring, Microsoft seriously evaluated acquiring the code-generation startup Cursor but ultimately withdrew due to concerns over antitrust regulatory scrutiny. Shortly afterward, SpaceX, led by Musk (which acquired xAI in February this year), swiftly stepped in and completed the deal with Cursor. Currently, the talent battle between Microsoft and SpaceX is focused on Inception, a startup founded by a Stanford team. Inception was established in mid-2024 (Microsoft’s venture arm M12 participated in its $50 million seed round scheduled for late 2025); the company is pursuing a novel approach: using “diffusion” mechanisms—typically employed for image and video processing—to train large language models, significantly accelerating performance by simultaneously generating and optimizing multiple tokens. Informed sources indicate that Inception is seeking an acquisition offer exceeding $1 billion. These moves reflect a substantive loosening of the Microsoft-OpenAI alliance. Their previously exclusive agreements have been repeatedly unwound in recent years: the revised agreement in late 2025 permitted Microsoft to independently develop AGI; and just at the end of April this year, OpenAI was granted permission to develop products for Microsoft’s direct competitors such as Amazon. (Source: BlockBeats)
Microsoft and SpaceX Compete for AI Startup Inception Amid OpenAI Tensions
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Summary
AI and crypto news broke as Microsoft and SpaceX compete for Inception, a Stanford-founded startup developing a new diffusion-based training method for large language models. Microsoft previously attempted to acquire Cursor but withdrew the deal due to antitrust concerns. SpaceX, backed by Elon Musk, later acquired Cursor. Inception is now seeking acquisition offers exceeding $10 billion. Token launch news remains closely monitored as major players move swiftly in the post-OpenAI era.
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