In a stunning reversal, Google DeepMind acquires Windsurf’s top talent just weeks after OpenAI’s $3B deal collapsed over IP tensions with Microsoft.

AI startup Windsurf is officially off the marketbut not to OpenAI. Instead, Cognition has stepped in with a deal to acquire the company after OpenAIs $3 billion bid fell apart. And in a surprising twist,

Artificial intelligence (AI) coding startup Windsurf announced Monday that it was being acquired by Cognition, an AI peer based out of San Francisco, California. This comes close on the heels of Windsurf disclosing a licensing agreement with Alphabet,

As of Friday, Windsurf’s head of business, Jeff Wang, will take over as the startup’s interim CEO, he announced in a post on social media. Most of Windsurf’s 250 person team is not headed to Google DeepMind and will continue offering its AI coding tools for enterprise customers.

In one of the largest acqui-hires to date, Meta last month recruited Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang, along with members of his team, to join a newly formed A.I. group. The move followed Meta’s investment of more than $14 billion in Scale AI, through which it secured a non-voting stake in the startup.

In a surprising move, Cognition– the makers of autonomous coding tool Devin— acquired what was left of its rival Windsurf after the company’s cofounders Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen and other staff members were poached by Google DeepMind for $2.

Bay Area tech companies are battling to build popular, useful artificial intelligence — and the fight just ripped apart a startup. Windsurf, an AI company based in Mountain View, began last week as a reported $3 billion acquisition target for OpenAI.

B deal with the artificial intelligence code generation tool company Windsurf for its licensing rights and talent will likely increase competition in the DevSecOps space. This could apply pressure on companies such as GitLab (NASDAQ:GTLB) and JFrog (NASDAQ:FROG),