OpenAI is moving deeper into AI hardware, and its strategy is increasingly tied to people and suppliers with long experience inside Apple’s product world. According to The Information, the company has hired more than two dozen Apple employees since early 2025 and is also working with several Chinese suppliers connected to Apple’s ecosystem.
The effort follows OpenAI’s May 2025 acquisition of io Products, a hardware startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and Tang Tan. Tan, who previously oversaw production for Ive’s designs, is now OpenAI’s Chief Hardware Officer.
Why Apple talent matters to OpenAI hardware
Building consumer hardware is different from launching software. It requires industrial design, interface thinking, manufacturing coordination, supply chain planning, audio expertise, camera knowledge, and decisions about how people physically use a device every day.
Those are exactly the areas where OpenAI has been recruiting. The Information reports that the new hires include specialists in interface design, wearables, cameras, audio, manufacturing design, and supply chain management. That mix suggests OpenAI is not only experimenting with a prototype, but assembling the kind of cross-functional team needed to turn AI hardware into a real product.
Several named hires underline the depth of Apple experience now moving into OpenAI. Cyrus Daniel Irani spent 15 years at Apple, Matt Theobald worked there for 17 years, and Erik de Jong came from the Apple Watch hardware team.
The source also points to the pitch OpenAI has reportedly made to potential recruits. Beyond lucrative stock options, offers of less bureaucracy and more collaboration helped draw people away. Many Apple employees are also said to have applied on their own after the io acquisition was announced.
The io Products acquisition changed the scale
OpenAI’s hardware push became more visible after the May 2025 acquisition of io Products. The startup’s founding team gave OpenAI a direct link to senior Apple design and production experience through Jony Ive and Tang Tan.
That matters because the challenge is not simply deciding what an AI device should do. OpenAI also needs to answer how such a device should feel, how it should be manufactured, what components it should use, and how it should fit into daily routines without feeling like another generic gadget.
The appointment of Tan as Chief Hardware Officer gives the effort a clear operational center. His background overseeing production for Ive’s designs places manufacturing discipline alongside design ambition, which is critical if OpenAI wants to move from concept work to shipping hardware.
Four device ideas are on the table
The company is exploring several possible products rather than a single publicly defined device. The Information names four categories currently under consideration:
- A screenless smart speaker
- A pair of smart glasses
- A wearable pin
- A digital voice recorder
Each idea points to a different way AI could become more present outside a laptop or phone. A screenless smart speaker would lean on voice and audio. Smart glasses would place AI closer to what a person sees. A wearable pin would suggest an always-available companion device. A digital voice recorder would focus more directly on capturing spoken information.
The source does not say which device will ship first. It does say the first product could arrive in late 2026 or early 2027, which means the current work appears to be aimed at a commercial release window rather than open-ended research alone.
Apple suppliers are part of the plan
OpenAI is not only recruiting from Apple’s workforce. It is also drawing on parts of Apple’s supplier network, which could help the company solve the practical problems of building and assembling consumer hardware.
Assembly of the first device is expected to be handled by Luxshare, described in the source as one of Apple’s key iPhone suppliers. Contracts are already signed. Goertek, another Apple partner, has also been tapped for components.
That supplier activity is important because hardware timelines depend on far more than design decisions. Component sourcing, assembly planning, and manufacturing design can determine whether a promising concept can be made reliably and at scale.
Apple appears to be watching closely
The Information reports that Apple appears alarmed by the level of defections. In August, Apple abruptly canceled its annual offsite meeting in China. The reported concern was that having many executives away at the same time would make it harder to prevent additional poaching by OpenAI.
Inside Apple, frustration is said to be growing around incremental product updates and stagnant stock performance. The source presents that as part of the backdrop for why OpenAI’s hardware effort may be attracting attention from Apple employees.
For OpenAI, the opportunity is clear but difficult. The company is trying to convert AI capability into physical devices people may actually want to carry, speak to, wear, or keep nearby. To do that, it is leaning on Apple-trained talent, Apple-linked suppliers, and leadership from the io Products acquisition.
The result is one of the clearest signs yet that OpenAI sees hardware as more than a side project. If the reported timeline holds, the first test of that strategy could come in late 2026 or early 2027.