OpenAI buys Jony Ive's hardware design firm for $6.5 billion

Jony Ive, the father of iPhone design, founded the startup io with other engineers who worked with him at Apple, such as Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan. Now, the startup will join the ranks of OpenAI, in a deal valued at $6.5 billion. It is known that Ive will not join, but the remaining 55 employees will work for OpenAI.

The first AI hardware devices to emerge from this new venture are expected to hit the market in 2026. In the past, Jony Ive has described AI hardware attempts like the Humane Pin or the Rabbit R1 as “very poor products” and considered there to be a “lack of new thinking expressed in products.”

io’s first product isn’t meant to eliminate any existing products. “In the same way that the smartphone didn’t make the laptop disappear, I don’t think our first product is going to make smartphones disappear. It’s a completely new breed,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Bloomberg .

Jony Ive's design company LoveFrom will remain independent and will continue to collaborate with OpenAI, work that began two years ago and during which they have already evaluated the creation of devices such as headphones or devices with cameras.

Altman also confides that “Jony gave me one of the prototypes of the device for the first time to take home, I got to live with it, and I think it’s one of the coolest pieces of technology the world has ever seen.”

“I am absolutely convinced that we are literally on the cusp of a new generation of technology that will enable us to become better,” said Jony Ive. The anticipation was further raised when Ive said, “I have a growing sense that everything I have learned over the past 30 years has led me to this moment. While I am excited and eager to take on the substantial work that lies ahead, I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of such an important collaboration. The values ​​and vision of Sam and the teams at OpenAI and io are a rare inspiration.”