OpenAI to acquire iPhone designer Jony Ive’s AI startup for $6.4 billion

21 May 2025 21:55
21 May 2025 22:00

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OpenAI to acquire iPhone designer Jony Ive’s AI startup for $6.4 billion

Photo: Reuters

OpenAI announced Wednesday that it is acquiring io, the artificial intelligence device startup founded by famed designer Jony Ive, in a deal valued at approximately $6.4 billion.

Ive is taking on “deep creative and design responsibilities across OpenAI and io,” OpenAI said in a statement. The company said that io is merging with OpenAI, while Ive and his “creative collective” called LoveFrom will stay independent, News.Az reports, citing CNBC.

In a blog post on Wednesday from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive, the pair said that io was founded a year ago by Ive, along with Apple alumni Scott Cannon, Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, who briefly took over Ive’s role at Apple after he departed.

“The io team, focused on developing products that inspire, empower and enable, will now merge with OpenAI to work more intimately with the research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco,” the post said.

OpenAI said it’s paying $5 billion given that it already owns 23% of the company.

The purchase is by far OpenAI’s largest and comes weeks after the company agreed to buy AI-assisted coding tool Windsurf for $3 billion. Prior to that, OpenAI acquired analytics database company Rockset for an undisclosed sum in 2024.

Ive announced in 2019 that he was leaving Apple, where he was the longtime chief design officer, to start LoveFrom. Airbnb said in 2020 that Ive was consulting with the company on hiring and future products. The New York Times reported last year that LoveFrom’s clients pay the firm up to $200 million a year and that its designers at the time were working on projects for Christie’s, Airbnb and Ferrarri.

LoveFrom says on its website that it was founded by Ive and designer Marc Newson, but the doesn’t say anything about what the company does or include any mention of io.

Ive is responsible for designing Apple’s most iconic products, including the iPod, iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air. He also helped design Apple’s new Cupertino headquarters, called Apple Park, a project that began in 2004 with the campus officially opening in 2019.