Apple Sues OpenAI Over Trade Secret Theft, Citing More Than 400 Former Employees Now Working for the AI Lab
Apple filed suit in federal court accusing OpenAI's hardware chief and a former engineer of stealing trade secrets as part of a scheme it calls 'rotten to its core.'
Overview
Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging trade secret theft and breach of contract carried out through former Apple employees who now work at the AI company. The suit names OpenAI, its hardware unit io Products, OpenAI Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan and former Apple engineer Chang Liu as defendants, and says more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI.
What We Know
Apple’s complaint argues the alleged scheme reached OpenAI’s leadership. “At every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” the filing states, adding that OpenAI’s hardware business “rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets,” according to TechCrunch and MacRumors.
Tang Tan spent 24 years at Apple, most recently as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, before leaving in February 2024 to join Jony Ive’s startup io, which OpenAI later acquired. Apple alleges Tan “has directed job candidates still working for Apple to bring ‘actual parts’ from Apple to their interviews for ‘show and tell’ sessions in which he and his team at OpenAI can elicit still more Apple confidential information,” according to Engadget. Apple also says Tan retained an internal Apple document marked “Need to Know” that outlined the company’s security procedures for departing staff, and shared it with new OpenAI hires so they could avoid detection before giving notice, according to MacRumors and 9to5Mac.
Chang Liu, a senior systems electrical engineer who spent eight years at Apple, joined OpenAI in January 2026 and allegedly kept his Apple-issued laptop after departing, using it to download files described in the complaint as “voluminous, detailed information about unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications, and proprietary project data,” according to Engadget. Apple says Liu also stayed in contact with an Apple employee, Yu-Ting “Alyssa” Peng, who continued feeding him project updates, and that when Liu realized he still had network access after leaving, he texted her, “LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny,” according to MacRumors.
Apple’s complaint further alleges OpenAI used insider knowledge to approach Apple’s suppliers, including misleading one partner into believing it had Apple’s permission to use one of Apple’s proprietary manufacturing techniques, according to TechCrunch and MacRumors. Apple says it first raised these concerns with OpenAI in February and received no response before filing suit, according to TechCrunch and 9to5Mac.
io Products, the startup Jony Ive sold to OpenAI last year in a $6.5 billion deal, is named as a defendant, though Ive himself is not, according to TechCrunch and 9to5Mac.
In a statement, Apple said “significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple’s secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products,” and that it “will always defend our teams’ hard work and innovations,” according to TechCrunch and 9to5Mac. OpenAI’s director of strategic communications, Drew Pusateri, responded that the company has “no interest in other companies’ trade secrets” and “remain[s] focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere,” according to Engadget.
Apple is seeking an injunction barring OpenAI from using or disclosing its trade secrets, the return of any confidential materials, and damages to be determined at trial, along with breach-of-contract claims against Tan and Liu individually, according to MacRumors.
What We Don’t Know
OpenAI had not filed a formal response to the complaint at the time of the reporting reviewed. Apple said in a footnote that its existing agreement allowing ChatGPT to be integrated into Apple Intelligence “is not at issue here” and has “no connection” to the trade-secret claims, according to Engadget, though it remains unclear whether the litigation will affect that partnership going forward. OpenAI has not disclosed what hardware device it is building or when it might launch; outside analysts, including Ming-Chi Kuo, have speculated since April that the product could be a smartphone built around AI agents, according to TechCrunch and 9to5Mac.