In an unexpected turn of events, artificial intelligence startup Cognition announced this week that it is acquiring AI coding startup Windsurf, just days after news that OpenAI’s planned $3 billion buy of Windsurf had fallen apart.

Google hired Windsurf’s core team and licensed its AI tech for $2.4B to support agentic coding in DeepMind’s Gemini project.

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.

Windsurf faces acquisition by Cognition AI. This follows a collapsed deal with OpenAI. Google hired Windsurf's CEO Varun Mohan and co-founder Douglas Chen. Google DeepMind also secured a license to Windsurf's tech for $2.

OpenAI is the world's leading AI startup. For how long will depend on how well it fends off multi-front attacks from competitors like Meta and Google.