Apple filed suit against OpenAI in federal court in Northern California on July 10, accusing the AI company, its hardware chief, and two former Apple engineers of running a coordinated campaign to steal confidential hardware technology — a stunning reversal for two companies that struck a high-profile partnership just two years earlier.
The complaint alleges that “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.” A breakdown of the filing is available on YouTube.
The Allegations
Apple’s filing centers on two former employees. Tang Tan, a former Apple vice president who is now OpenAI’s hardware chief, is accused of directing Apple staff who were interviewing at OpenAI to bring “actual parts” from Apple to their interviews for what the complaint calls “show and tell” sessions, and of coaching departing employees on how to evade Apple’s internal security processes on their way out.
Chang Liu, a former Apple senior systems electrical engineer who joined OpenAI, is separately accused of failing to return an Apple-issued laptop after leaving and using it to download confidential technical documents covering unannounced Apple technologies, features and products.
Apple also claims its investigation found that OpenAI and its hardware partner, io Products — the venture co-founded with former Apple design chief Jony Ive, though Ive himself is not named as a defendant — used Apple’s confidential information in developing OpenAI’s own hardware line, including a proprietary metal-finishing technique.
More than 400 former Apple employees are reported to now work at OpenAI, a recruiting pattern Apple’s complaint frames as coordinated extraction of confidential technology rather than ordinary industry hiring.
From Partners to Adversaries
The lawsuit marks a dramatic turn in a relationship that began in 2024, when ChatGPT was integrated into Apple’s iPhone software as part of Apple Intelligence. That partnership had already been cooling before this filing — Apple announced in January that it was shifting to Google for key parts of its AI efforts, a move now cast in a different light given the trade-secret allegations disclosed this week.
OpenAI has denied wrongdoing. In a statement, the company said: “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”
The case is expected to draw significant attention as it proceeds, both for what it reveals about OpenAI’s hardware ambitions under Tan and Ive’s io Products venture, and for what it signals about how aggressively established tech giants are now willing to litigate against AI labs poaching senior technical talent.
Neither company has indicated a timeline for the case moving forward.
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