# Apple strikes deal for Ascend.io employees and intellectual property

_Published Friday, October 30, 2026 at 8:23 AM EDT · AI, Products · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

![Apple strikes deal for Ascend.io employees and intellectual property — Primary](https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/10/CleanShot-2026-10-30-at-8.02.29-AM@2x.jpeg?quality=82&strip=all&resize=1200,628)

Apple has struck a deal with Ascension Labs, the company known as Ascend.io, giving it rights to hire certain employees and obtain intellectual property, 9to5Mac reported, citing an update to the EU's acquisition disclosures.

The agreement includes a non-exclusive license to Ascend's intellectual property and allows Apple to receive certain patents. Ascend develops AI agents for data engineering, helping teams handle work across the data engineering lifecycle. The disclosed terms describe access to selected employees and technology rather than exclusive ownership of all Ascend intellectual property.

## Sources

- [9to5Mac](https://9to5mac.com/2026/10/30/apple-acquires-ascend%e2%80%a4io-an-agentic-ai-engineering-startup/)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/IjLcwEIiM8txXlAoCuuspk
Published: 2026-10-30T12:23:24.572Z
Story chronology: 2026-10-30T12:06:19.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-10-30T14:40:02.977Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)