Due to Microsoft, OpenAI's acquisition of the "AI programming unicorn" Windsurf failed, and Google is "waiting in the wings."

OpenAI's acquisition negotiations for the AI programming assistant Windsurf ended due to Microsoft's intellectual property concerns, and the originally valued $3 billion deal was ultimately intercepted by Google. Google will hire Windsurf's CEO Varun Mohan and some employees, and obtain a non-exclusive license for the company's technology.

The acquisition negotiations, which lasted for several months, were recently declared a failure. On July 12, according to the tech media The Information, insiders revealed that the Windsurf team expressed concerns about how its programming assistant would integrate into OpenAI's existing agreements with Microsoft. Under this agreement, OpenAI is required to share its technology with Microsoft, which became one of the key factors for the deal's failure.

Google will pay for the licensing of Windsurf's technology but will not hold any shares in the company. This deal will provide returns for Windsurf's investors, and employees will also receive cash benefits. Windsurf will continue to operate as an independent company, with most of its approximately 250 employees remaining to continue developing programming tools for large enterprises.

Analysts say that the failure of this deal highlights the fierce competition among major tech companies in the AI programming tools sector and how complex partnerships can affect industry consolidation. The AI programming assistant market is becoming a key battleground for tech giants, as related tools can significantly enhance software development efficiency.

Microsoft's Agreement as a "Roadblock" to the Deal

OpenAI's existing agreement with Microsoft became the core obstacle to the failure of this acquisition. According to the agreement, Microsoft has exclusive rights to host OpenAI models on its cloud platform and can access OpenAI's intellectual property, with the agreement effective until 2030.

OpenAI had attempted to exempt Windsurf from the existing contract, but this effort clearly did not succeed. According to previous reports from The Information, OpenAI had been trying to renegotiate its agreement with Microsoft to prevent Microsoft from obtaining Windsurf's intellectual property.

Other complex situations also arose during the negotiation process. After the news of the acquisition negotiations became public, Anthropic, seen by developers as building the most effective programming models, restricted Windsurf's access to its models. Anthropic co-founder and chief scientist Jared Kaplan stated in an interview, "Selling Claude to OpenAI would be strange for us."

Google Makes Inroads into the AI Programming Tools Market

Reports indicate that Google has made significant progress in the highly competitive field of AI programming tools through this deal. Mohan and other Windsurf employees will join Google DeepMind, focusing on agent programming work.

By obtaining Windsurf's technology licensing and key personnel, Google is expected to enhance its competitiveness in the AI programming tools sector while avoiding the complexities of an equity acquisition process.

This "talent + technology licensing" deal model has become a popular way for major tech companies to acquire AI talent Last year, Google hired Character AI co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, while paying $2.7 billion in technology licensing fees. Microsoft also paid about $650 million in licensing fees to hire most of the employees from Inflection, including its co-founders.

Meta similarly adopted a similar strategy, investing $14.3 billion in Scale AI last month, while hiring the company's CEO Alexandr Wang and several senior employees. It is reported that Meta has also negotiated with Windsurf regarding transactions or acquisitions.

Competition in the AI Programming Assistant Market Heats Up

Reports indicate that the AI programming tools market is becoming the focus of competition among tech companies, as related products can help engineers write and edit software more quickly.

Another popular startup in this field, Cursor, recently surpassed $500 million in annual recurring revenue and rejected acquisition interest from parties including OpenAI.

Cursor's manufacturer, Anysphere, raised funds from investors such as Accel last month, with the company's valuation reaching $9.9 billion. The company had previously also rejected acquisition proposals, highlighting the scarcity and high valuation of quality AI programming tool companies.

Windsurf, formerly known as Codeium, has its AI programming assistant well-received in the developer community. Under the new arrangement, the company's business head Jeff Wang will serve as the new CEO, continuing to lead the remaining team in developing programming tools for large enterprises.

Analysts point out that these non-traditional acquisition agreements allow large tech companies to quickly recruit top AI researchers while avoiding the lengthy review processes of formal mergers, gaining an advantage in the competition for AI talent