OpenAI is buying Jony Ive’s AI hardware company

OpenAI is buying io, a hardware company founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and several other former engineers from his time there, including Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan.

“We gathered together the best hardware and software engineers, the best technologists, physicists, scientists, researchers and experts in product development and manufacturing,” Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a joint post. “Many of us have worked closely for decades. The io team, focused on developing products that inspire, empower and enable, will now merge with OpenAI to work more intimately with the research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco.”

The deal is valued at nearly $6.5 billion, Bloomberg reports. About 55 hardware engineers, software developers, and manufacturing experts will join OpenAI as part of the acquisition. The first devices following the acquisition are set to launch in 2026.

Ive won’t be joining OpenAI, and his design firm, LoveFrom, will continue to be independent, but they will “take over design for all of OpenAI, including its software,” Bloomberg says.