tl;dr
OpenAI announced a $6.4 billion all-equity acquisition of Jony Ive’s AI hardware startup io, marking its largest deal and entry into hardware development. The io team will integrate into OpenAI’s San Francisco operations, with Ive overseeing design across both companies while maintaining independenc...
OpenAI has announced its largest acquisition to date, acquiring Jony Ive’s AI hardware startup io for an all-equity deal valued at approximately $6.4 billion. This purchase marks OpenAI’s strategic entry into hardware development, integrating io’s device-focused design team into its San Francisco operations.
Jony Ive, the legendary former Apple design chief responsible for iconic products like the iPhone and iPad, will oversee design efforts across both OpenAI and io while maintaining independence for his design firm, LoveFrom. The io startup was founded about a year ago by Ive alongside former Apple colleagues and was previously partially owned by OpenAI, which held a 23% stake contributing $1.4 billion to the valuation.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described Ive as “the greatest designer in the world,” underlining the significance of the acquisition. The deal not only boosts OpenAI’s industrial design capacity but also aligns with the company’s broader strategic focus on combining cutting-edge AI software with physical devices that inspire and empower users.
This acquisition follows OpenAI’s recent $3 billion purchase of Windsurf, an AI coding assistant, and its investments in robotics startup Physical Intelligence, which is developing general-purpose AI for physical environments. These moves collectively signal OpenAI’s ambition to build tangible hardware interfaces that complement its generative AI models amidst intensifying competition from players like Google, Anthropic, and xAI.