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OpenAI ventures into {hardware} with $6.4B deal for legendary designer Jony Ive’s startup io

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 keeping with a report by CNBC.

The acquisition, OpenAI’s largest so far, marks a decisive step into {hardware} for the corporate finest recognized for its generative AI fashions. The deal incorporates io straight 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 inventive obligations throughout OpenAI and io. 

Integration into AI and product groups

In a joint assertion, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive mentioned the io crew will relocate to San Francisco to work carefully 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 at present 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 convey io’s device-focused crew 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 planet.”

The deal comes weeks after OpenAI agreed to amass 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 methods.

The acquisition of io reinforces that route. Whereas OpenAI didn’t disclose particular merchandise, the weblog submit referenced gadgets that “encourage, empower, and allow,” and emphasised IO’s mission to translate AI capabilities into consumer-oriented kind components.

OpenAI’s buy of io highlights its technique to construct out bodily interfaces for its fashions, because the aggressive area in generative AI continues to widen with entries from Google, Anthropic, and xAI.

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