OpenAI is ramping up efforts to build its own AI-powered hardware and is increasingly drawing from Apple's workforce and supplier network to do it.
According to The Information, the company has hired more than two dozen Apple employees since early 2025, including specialists in interface design, wearables, cameras, audio, manufacturing design, and supply chain management. Several Chinese suppliers tied to Apple's ecosystem are also involved.
The hiring spree came after OpenAI's May 2025 acquisition of io Products, a hardware startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and Tang Tan, who previously oversaw production for Ive's designs. Tan is now OpenAI's Chief Hardware Officer.
Among the notable new hires are Cyrus Daniel Irani, who spent 15 years at Apple, Matt Theobald, who worked there for 17 years, and Erik de Jong from the Apple Watch hardware team. Beyond lucrative stock options, OpenAI's offers of less bureaucracy and more collaboration reportedly helped lure talent away. Many Apple employees are also said to have applied on their own after the io acquisition was announced.
The company is exploring several potential devices, including a screenless smart speaker, a pair of smart glasses, a wearable pin, and a digital voice recorder. Assembly of the first device is expected to be handled by Luxshare, one of Apple's key iPhone suppliers, with contracts already signed. Another Apple partner, Goertek, has been tapped for components. The first product could arrive in late 2026 or early 2027.
Apple appears to be alarmed by the scale of defections. In August, the company abruptly canceled its annual offsite meeting in China, reportedly out of concern that so many executives being away at once would make it harder to prevent further poaching by OpenAI. Inside Apple, frustration is said to be growing over incremental product updates and stagnant stock performance, according to The Information.
