Apple Sues OpenAI Over Alleged Theft of Hardware Trade Secrets
Apple has sued OpenAI, alleging the AI company stole confidential hardware trade secrets through former employees to accelerate its consumer hardware ambitions.
SociapaHQ
Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming the artificial intelligence company stole trade secrets from its consumer hardware business to accelerate its own hardware plans.
The lawsuit, filed on July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, names the OpenAI Foundation, the OpenAI Group PBC, hardware subsidiary io Products and two former Apple employees now working at the company: Tang Yew Tan and Chang Liu.
The complaint says Tan, who worked at Apple for 24 years and most recently served as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, emailed himself confidential supplier information before leaving the company. Apple also alleges that he used internal Apple code names during interviews with potential recruits, and told interviewees to bring actual Apple hardware components to interviews.
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Trade Secrets:
Apple also alleged that Liu, who joined OpenAI in January 2026, did not return his company-issued laptop and exploited an authentication vulnerability to download more than 1,000 pages of confidential hardware documents before departing.
The suit also says OpenAI induced one of Apple's manufacturing partners to perform a proprietary production process without authorisation. Apple also said more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI and said it raised its concerns with the company in a letter sent in February 2026 that it said went unanswered.
Apple is also asking the court to issue an order to prevent OpenAI from using any of its alleged trade secrets, to return confidential materials and to preserve evidence related to the lawsuit.
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"Recently, significant evidence has emerged that people working for OpenAI have unlawfully taken Apple's trade secret and confidential information concerning our unreleased technologies, processes and products," Apple said in a statement. “We will always stand by the hard work and innovations of our teams.”
In response to the claims, OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said, “We are not interested in the trade secrets of other companies. “Our goal is to develop innovative technology that enables people everywhere.”
Notably, Jony Ive, whose startup io Products was acquired by OpenAI in 2025, is not named as a defendant in the suit.
