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OpenAI is buying io, the AI device startup co-founded by former Apple design legend Jony Ive, in a $6.5 billion all-stock deal making it OpenAI’s biggest acquisition yet.
What’s the deal: OpenAI will pay $5 billion in equity, with the rest reflecting its 23% stake from 2023. The startup is backed by big-name investors like Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective, Thrive Capital, and Sutter Hill Ventures. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, holds no equity in io.
Why it matters: this move signals OpenAI’s clear push into hardware, pairing its software firepower with Apple-level design DNA. Ive and his team helped build the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch… and now they’re set to design a new family of AI-native devices.
What’s next: OpenAI will absorb io’s 55-person team of hardware engineers and designers. With Altman’s vision and Ive’s industrial design chops, this could be the iPhone moment of AI—if they pull it off.
