OpenAI Chief Govt Officer Sam Altman seems on display screen throughout a chat with Microsoft Chairman and Chief Govt Officer Satya Nadella on the Microsoft Construct 2025 convention in Seattle, Could 19, 2025.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Photos
OpenAI stated Wednesday that it is shopping for Jony Ive’s AI units startup io for about $6.4 billion in an all-equity deal that pushes the factitious intelligence firm firmly into the world of {hardware}.
Ive is taking over “deep inventive and design tasks throughout OpenAI and io,” the corporate stated in an announcement. OpenAI stated io is coming in-house, whereas Ive and his “inventive collective” known as LoveFrom will keep unbiased.
In a weblog publish Wednesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive stated that io was based a yr in the past by Ive, together with Apple alumni Scott Cannon, Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, who briefly took over Ive’s position at Apple after he departed.
“The io workforce, targeted on creating merchandise that encourage, empower and allow, will now merge with OpenAI to work extra intimately with the analysis, engineering and product groups in San Francisco,” the publish stated.
OpenAI stated it is paying $5 billion within the transaction, because it already owns 23% of the corporate. Altman wrote in a publish on X that he believes Ive is “the best designer on this planet.”
The acquisition is by far OpenAI’s largest and comes weeks after the corporate agreed to purchase AI-assisted coding software Windsurf for $3 billion. Previous to that, OpenAI acquired analytics database firm Rockset for an undisclosed sum in 2024.
Ive introduced in 2019 that he was leaving Apple, the place he was the longtime chief design officer, to begin LoveFrom. Airbnb stated in 2020 that Ive was consulting with the corporate on hiring and future merchandise. The New York Instances reported final yr that LoveFrom’s purchasers pay the agency as much as $200 million a yr and that its designers on the time have been engaged on initiatives for Christie’s, Airbnb and Ferrari.
LoveFrom says on its web site that it was based by Ive and designer Marc Newson, nevertheless it would not say something about what the corporate does or embrace any point out of io.
Apple chief design officer Jony Ive (L) and Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner examine the brand new iPhone XR throughout an Apple particular occasion on the Steve Jobs Theatre on September 12, 2018 in Cupertino, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Photos Information | Getty Photos
Ive is accountable for designing Apple‘s most iconic merchandise, together with the iPod, iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air. He additionally helped design Apple’s new Cupertino headquarters, known as Apple Park, a mission that started in 2004, with the campus formally opening in 2019.
Information of the acquisition comes as OpenAI, which was lately valued at $300 billion in a funding spherical led by SoftBank, is speeding to remain forward within the generative AI race, the place opponents together with Google, Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI are investing closely and frequently rolling out new merchandise. A part of staying forward in that race contains shoring up its {hardware} operations.
To additional its {hardware} ambitions, OpenAI employed the previous head of Meta’s Orion augmented actuality glasses initiative in November to steer its robotics and client {hardware} efforts. Caitlin “CK” Kalinowski wrote in an announcement on the time that the position would “initially give attention to OpenAI’s robotics work and partnerships to assist deliver AI into the bodily world and unlock its advantages for humanity.”
Additionally in November, OpenAI invested in Bodily Intelligence, a robotic startup based mostly in San Francisco, which raised $400 million at a $2.4 billion valuation. Different buyers included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The startup focuses on “bringing general-purpose AI into the bodily world,” in accordance with its web site, by creating large-scale AI fashions and algorithms to energy robots.
WATCH: Ive and Altman teaming up
