In a move that signals a shift in the tech industry’s race to redefine hardware for the artificial intelligence (AI) age, OpenAI has acquired the design-focused hardware startupio, co-founded by former Apple designer Sir Jony Ive, in a deal valued at nearly $6.5 billion.
The all-equity acquisition is OpenAI’s largest deal to date and marks the company’s formal entry into consumer hardware, as it seeks to build the next generation of devices purpose-built for an AI-native future.
The acquisition, announced on May 22, follows nearly two years of quiet collaboration between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive, whose design work at Apple shaped the modern consumer technology landscape through products like the iPhone, iPod, and MacBook. Their shared ambition to reimagine how humans interact with computers has culminated in the creation ofio, a startup that aimed to build a “family of products for the AGI (artificial general intelligence) era”—referencing AGI, a theoretical form of AI with human-level capabilities.
As part of the deal, OpenAI will absorb io’s 55-person team of engineers, scientists, and manufacturing experts. Ive himself will not become an OpenAI employee but will assume “deep design and creative responsibilities” across both OpenAI and io via his design firm, LoveFrom, which will remain independent.
LoveFrom will now become a long-term creative partner for OpenAI, overseeing the design direction of its hardware, apps, and future versions of ChatGPT.
Reimagining human-computer interaction
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“This is an extraordinary moment,” Ive and Altman wrote in a joint statement. “Computers are now seeing, thinking, and understanding. Yet our experience with them remains shaped by traditional products and interfaces. We are on the brink of a new generation of technology.”
While exact details about the upcoming hardware remain limited, both Ive and Altman emphasised that the devices under development are intended to break free from the screen-based computing paradigm. Early concepts reportedly include wearable devices like AI-powered glasses or headphones with contextual awareness.
Altman said the project aims to “completely reimagine what it means to use a computer,” adding that the leap in AI capabilities now demands new form factors. “AI is such a big leap forward in terms of what people can do that it needs a new kind of computing experience to get the maximum potential out of it,” he stated.
The move marks a return to consumer technology for Ive, who left Apple in 2019 after nearly three decades, during which he designed many of the company’s most iconic products in collaboration with Steve Jobs. He later founded LoveFrom, which has worked with Ferrari, Airbnb, and Moncler, and in 2023 launched io, formed under the LoveFrom umbrella, with fellow Apple alumni Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan.
“I have a growing sense that everything I’ve learned over the last 30 years has led me to this place and to this moment,” Ive said. “It’s a relationship and a way of working together that I think is going to yield products and products and products.”
The OpenAI deal also reunites Ive with Hankey, Apple’s former VP of industrial design, and Tan, who led iPhone and Apple Watch hardware engineering until 2024. Both will join OpenAI as part of the io integration.
Implications for the tech industry
OpenAI’s bold foray into hardware comes at a time when traditional tech giants like Apple, Meta, and Google are all vying to define the next era of AI-infused devices. Apple, once a leader in consumer hardware innovation, has faced criticism for its slower pace in AI integration.
By bringing Ive onboard, OpenAI not only gains a world-class design team but also signals its intent to go beyond software and reshape how people physically engage with AI. Industry analysts believe the move could upend long-standing assumptions about hardware design.
The first devices from the OpenAI-io collaboration are expected to debut in 2026. Until then, the companies will continue operating out of their respective offices in San Francisco, including io’s Jackson Square studio.
As the industry looks beyond smartphones, the partnership between Altman and Ive could usher in a new chapter for consumer technology. “We’re just getting started,” said Altman. “It’s a crazy, ambitious thing to make—and it’ll be worth the wait.”