I mean, a lot of people before them were "not in the model business" (Cursor et al) and it seems they got disintermediated by the model companies. Step 1 is still to have the best model, or hope for model progress to taper out.
Apple makes great margins on hardware. They are 100% not in the CNC milling business. But their investments at that low level and vertical integration allow for higher margins at the top.
Cursor had... nothing. A minor, indefensible value add to a much larger and wealthier supplier.
No, that would kill them for sure. Or did you mean 'open model progress'?