Sam Altman and OpenAI announced a $6.4 billion deal on Wednesday to buy io, the AI hardware startup of Apple's former chief design officer Jony Ive.

With Ive leading design, OpenAI aims to pair the tech behind its ChatGPT chatbot with product design expertise that made the iPhone a bestseller.

Altman and Ive announced OpenAI’s acquisition of Ive’s io in a statement Wednesday, with the deal valued at roughly $6.5 billion after OpenAI acquired 23% of io in a partnership deal in 2024.

Hours after Sam Altman and Jony Ive announced on Wednesday that OpenAI was buying Ive’s company, io, in an all-stock transaction valued at $6.5 billion, Investors were happy about the hefty returns they got from the sale of io to OpenAI.

Details about Jony Ive's secretive OpenAI collaboration have leaked from an internal staff call reviewed by The Wall Street Journal

Sam Altman is working with Ive to secure direct user access, showing how distribution is becoming more important than technology in the AI race.

The idea is a “chance to do the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company here,” Altman told OpenAI employees Wednesday.