OpenAI has signed a manufacturing agreement with Luxshare to build its first consumer hardware product, according to a new report from The Information. The device — described by suppliers as something that resembles a screenless smart speaker (in other words, an Alexa-adjacent device) — is part of a broader push into hardware that also includes exploratory work on glasses, a wearable pin, and a digital voice recorder. Sources familiar with the roadmap say OpenAI is targeting a late 2026 or early 2027 launch window.
Luxshare isn't the only Apple supplier involved. Goertek, which builds AirPods, HomePods, and Apple Watch components, has been approached to provide speaker modules for OpenAI's first product. The company is also said to be engaging with other Chinese supply chain partners Apple has spent years cultivating, including those in tooling and precision audio.
According to The Register, the hardware project is being led by Tang Tan, who left Apple in 2023 after a 25-year tenure that included design oversight of various flagship products. Tan now serves as OpenAI's chief hardware officer and reports directly to CEO Sam Altman. In May, OpenAI acquired io Products — the hardware design studio Tan co-founded with Jony Ive — in a $6.5 billion deal backed by SoftBank. Court documents from an ongoing trademark dispute describe OpenAI's goal as building a family of AI-native products under the io brand.
Since the io acquisition, OpenAI has stepped up recruiting across Apple's product and operations teams. At least 25 former Apple employees are understood to have joined the effort in 2025 alone, with backgrounds in human interface design, audio, wearables, and manufacturing scale-up. Among them are senior figures like Cyrus Daniel Irani, a longtime Siri interface designer, and Matt Theobald, who spent 17 years on Apple's manufacturing design team. Others include engineers from Apple's camera and Watch divisions. Most hires have joined Tan's org inside OpenAI, though some remain associated with LoveFrom, Ive's separate design firm.
The poaching of talent could complicate the company's relationship with Apple, which, since 2024, has integrated OpenAI's models into Siri and iOS. That partnership now runs parallel to a hardware effort built by Apple's own former talent and vendors.
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