OpenAI introduced on Might 21 that it’s going to purchase Jony Ive’s synthetic intelligence {hardware} startup io in an all-equity transaction valued at roughly $6.4 billion, in response to a report by CNBC.
The acquisition, OpenAI’s largest so far, marks a decisive step into {hardware} for the corporate greatest recognized for its generative AI fashions. The deal incorporates io immediately into OpenAI.
In the meantime, Ive, a former Apple design chief, will retain independence for his design agency, LoveFrom.
Ive is credited with designing the iPhone, iPad, and different key Apple merchandise. He’ll assume design and artistic tasks throughout OpenAI and io.
Integration into AI and product groups
In a joint assertion, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive stated the io group will relocate to San Francisco to work intently with OpenAI’s analysis and product groups.
The io startup, based a yr in the past by Ive and former Apple colleagues Scott Cannon, Tang Tan, and Evans Hankey, was beforehand operated as a part of LoveFrom.
OpenAI presently owns a 23% stake in io, contributing $1.4 billion to the deal’s valuation. The remaining $5 billion will probably be transferred in fairness.
The transaction will carry io’s device-focused group in-house, including industrial design capability to OpenAI’s portfolio. In a press release shared on X, Altman described Ive as “the best designer on the earth.”
The deal comes weeks after OpenAI agreed to accumulate Windsurf, an AI coding assistant, for $3 billion.
{Hardware} investments
Alongside its in-house efforts, OpenAI has invested in Bodily Intelligence, a San Francisco-based robotics startup that raised $400 million in 2024 at a valuation of $2.4 billion.
That spherical included participation from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Bodily Intelligence is constructing general-purpose AI to function in bodily environments, suggesting OpenAI’s broader intent to pair software program with tactile techniques.
The acquisition of io reinforces that route. Whereas OpenAI didn’t disclose particular merchandise, the weblog publish referenced units that “encourage, empower, and allow,” and emphasised IO’s mission to translate AI capabilities into consumer-oriented type elements.
OpenAI’s buy of io highlights its technique to construct out bodily interfaces for its fashions, because the aggressive discipline in generative AI continues to widen with entries from Google, Anthropic, and xAI.