OpenAI acquires startup Astral and strengthens its AI coding direction

OpenAI announced the acquisition of startup Astral, which develops popular open-source tools for programmers.

The Astral team will join OpenAI and work on advancing the AI coding assistant Codex. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to Astral founder Charlie Marsh, the company's goal is to make the development process more productive and change the approach to software creation itself.

The market for AI coding tools is growing rapidly, and OpenAI aims to strengthen its position in competition with Anthropic and Cursor. According to the company, Codex already has over 2 million active weekly users, and audience growth has tripled since the beginning of the year.

The Astral deal is expected to go through standard closing procedures, including regulatory approval.

Previously, OpenAI made several acquisitions, including the purchase of startup io for $6.4 billion, as well as companies Promptfoo and Torch. Additionally, in late 2025, former Google executive Albert Lee joined the company, indicating a continued strategy of active M&A deals.

Source: cnbc.com