TL;DR
Apple sued OpenAI in California federal court for trade secret theft. It alleges hardware designs were stolen as OpenAI prepares to launch consumer devices.
Apple has sued OpenAI in a California federal court, accusing the ChatGPT maker of using current and former employees to steal hardware designs as it prepares to launch AI-focused consumer devices. The lawsuit, filed on Friday, names OpenAI’s chief hardware officer Tang Tan and former Apple engineer Chang Liu, and alleges a pattern of misconduct “normalised and exemplified by leadership,” according to the Financial Times.
Apple claims Tang Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple including as VP of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, shared confidential supplier information with OpenAI before leaving. The lawsuit alleges that Tan instructed Apple employees to bring “digital designs and prototypes” to interviews at OpenAI for “show and tell sessions.” Over 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, according to the filing.
Chang Liu, a former electrical engineer who worked on Apple’s “most sensitive product development programs,” allegedly failed to return a work device, used another Apple employee’s computer to access trade secrets, coached the employee on copying files while evading security, and exploited a vulnerability in Apple’s network storage after leaving the company. Apple says Liu texted the employee: “LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny.”
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Apple called the evidence “the tip of the iceberg” and said OpenAI’s “nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.” It is seeking an injunction to prevent evidence destruction, the return of all trade secrets, and damages. The Apple-OpenAI relationship has been deteriorating since OpenAI began preparing its own legal action over the failed ChatGPT-Siri partnership, and this lawsuit escalates the conflict from a commercial dispute to a criminal allegation.
OpenAI said it has “no interest in other companies’ trade secrets” and remains “focused on building innovative technology.” The startup acquired Jony Ive’s io studio for $6.4 billion in May 2025, signalling its plan to compete with the iPhone. Apple said the alleged theft stemmed partly from OpenAI’s need to find new revenue lines quickly. OpenAI is already under investigation by 42 state attorneys general and facing scrutiny from investors over its $852 billion valuation as it has been leapfrogged by Anthropic.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
