Sam Altman and Jony Ive are probably going to create an entirely new market for AI Hardware

Today AI exists in a hardware agnostic space. You can run ChatGPT or Claude on your phone, on your tablet, on your desktop, dealers choice. And while companies like Apple have released new hardware like the iPhone 16 which is apparently optimized for AI, this is really more of a marketing gimmick than a reality. Sure, AI applications will run better on the new iPhone 16, but they will also run on the iPhone 15 and the Samsung Galaxy.

Back in April I read this article in The Information which got me thinking about how the hardware world might change over the next few years, and with this change, open the door for new entrants to the market.

A few days ago, Ives sat down with the New York Times and shared more about what him and Sam are up to sharing some nuggets like this one that I think shows the scale of what the duo is preparing to do:

In February, Mr. Ive found office space for the company. They spent $60 million on a 32,000-square-foot building called the Little Fox Theater that backs up to the LoveFrom courtyard. He has hired about 10 employees, including Tang Tan, who oversaw iPhone product development, and Evans Hankey, who succeeded Mr. Ive in leading design at Apple.
While the company has ten employees now, they're looking to raise up to $1B so I think we're likely going to see a massive hiring blitz over the next year after that capital hits the bank account. 

What I think is so interesting about this move is that it's very likely going to create an entirely new market. Up until now, the concept of AI (for consumers) has been completely separated from hardware, any hardware you have, in your pocket, on your desk, it can run the latest-and-greatest AI. This move will change the game by truly introducing hardware optimized for and designed around AI. With Apple's new iPhone or Microsoft's new AI-powered PCs, the hardware game isn't changing, it's the marketing game that is.

Once there's a company in the dedicated AI hardware space, I think everything changes and a new market opportunity opens up which means more companies will be building in the space. Right now you have a flood of new AI startups getting into YC, but they're all software companies, fast forward 2-3 years from now and I think you'll see more and more AI hardware startups entering the space.

Of course it's still early, and Altman and Ives need to secure their funding first, but if anyone can secure a $1B Seed round, it's these two.