science

Io (company)

Io (company) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Io (company) rather than just read about it. In short: io Products, Inc. is an American artificial intelligence hardware company founded in 2024 by Jony Ive, Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan. The company was acquired by OpenAI in May 2025 to lead its hardware product development.

Key takeaways

Io (company) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Io (company) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Io (company) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

io Products, Inc. is an American artificial intelligence hardware company founded in 2024 by Jony Ive, Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan. The company was acquired by OpenAI in May 2025 to lead its hardware product development.

History io was founded in 2024 by Jony Ive, Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan to develop a range of hardware products that use artificial general intelligence. In September 2024, The New York Times reported that Ive and his design collective LoveFrom was working with OpenAI on the development of an artificial intelligence hardware device that is "less socially disruptive than the iPhone". In 2024, io raised $225 million from multiple investors including Sutter Hill Ventures, the Emerson Collective, SV Angel, Maverick Ventures and Thrive Capital, as well as Ive who reportedly owned an 11 per cent stake. It was reported that OpenAI founder Sam Altman did not have equity in the company. The company also received an investment that year from OpenAI’s Startup Fund before it acquired a 23 per cent stake in the company for $1.5 billion in late 2024. On May 21, 2025, OpenAI announced the full acquisition of io and the merger of both companies. The deal valued the company at $6.5 billion making it OpenAI’s largest acquisition to date. In an announcement by Sam Altman and Jony Ive, io will merge with OpenAI to "work more intimately with the research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco." The merger was announced with a nine-minute film shot in Cafe Zoetrope, San Francisco, in which Altman and Ive discussed their friendship and how they aim to "create a family of devices that would let people use AI to create all sorts of wonderful things." On July 9, 2025, OpenAI and io announced the completion of the merger. At the point of acquisition io had 55 employees, all of which joined OpenAI including founders Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan. Ive and LoveFrom will remain independent and take on creative and design responsibilities at OpenAI. It was reported that OpenAI and io will release the first of its devices in 2026. In 2026, Wired reported that OpenAI was abandoning the 'io' branding for its hardware due to a trademark lawsuit, and that the hardware itself had been delayed to 2027.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Io (company)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Io (company) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Io (company) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Io (company) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Io (company)

In research: Io (company) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Io (company) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Io (company) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2024 establishments in California, 2025 mergers and acquisitions, American companies established in 2024, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Io (company) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Io (company) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Io (company) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Io (company) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Io (company) in simple terms?

Why does Io (company) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Io (company)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Io (company).