Tech Desk 
May 22, 2025
As the sphere of artificial intelligence (AI) is expanding with back-to-back developments, it appears that the pace will be slowed down a bit as OpenAI has moved to acquire io, an AI hardware startup owned by former iPhone designer Jony Ive.
The acquisition of the AI startup took place in an all-stock deal valued at around $6.4 billion. The latest takeover is OpenAI’s largest one to date.
io falling under the belt of ChatGPT maker marks an "extraordinary moment" in the ever-evolving AI space. It's worth noting that the deal injects OpenAI’s existing 23% stake in io, with $5 billion accounting for the transaction.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman praised Ive as “the greatest designer in the world” while highlighting the strategic value of this acquisition, as reported by Reuters.
io was founded just a year ago by Ive and former Apple executives, namely Scott Cannon, Tang Tan, and Evans Hankey.
With the amateur AI company set to become part of OpenAI’s operations, Ive will take on key creative and design roles at both OpenAI and io. LoveFrom, Ive's design creative collective, will remain independent in terms of its operations.
The new io team will now collaborate in OpenAI’s wide-ranging research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco to create products that “inspire, empower, and enable,” stated Altman and Ive in a joint blog post.
OpenAI's this purchase follows its recent $3 billion procurement of the AI-assisted coding tool Windsurf and its acquisition of analytics company Rockset in 2024.
