Apple Sues OpenAI Over Hardware Trade Secret Theft
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Apple sued OpenAI, IO Products (Jony Ive's hardware startup, acquired by OpenAI in 2025), and two former Apple engineers — Tang Tan, now OpenAI's chief hardware officer, and Chang Liu, who joined OpenAI in January — alleging a "pattern of theft" of trade secrets
- Liu allegedly accessed Apple's systems after leaving and downloaded "dozens" of confidential hardware files, then instructed a departing Apple colleague to copy files and use Line Messenger to "avoid trouble" with Apple's security team, per the complaint
- Tan is accused of emailing Apple supplier information to himself before departure and soliciting confidential Apple details from Apple employees during their OpenAI job interviews
- OpenAI allegedly told Apple staffers to bring "CAD/design artifacts" and "prototypes" to interviews, and advised departing Apple employees to flag if Apple asked them to sign anything, according to the suit
- Apple claims more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, and says it raised concerns with OpenAI in February but received no response
- Apple alleges OpenAI targeted its supply chain, including an Apple partner specializing in industrial design and metal-finishing that allegedly performed Apple's proprietary processes for OpenAI's benefit
- OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri denied the allegations, telling The Verge: "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets"
Why it matters: With OpenAI's first hardware product expected next year and 400+ former Apple staffers now at OpenAI, this suit threatens OpenAI's consumer hardware roadmap before it ships — and Apple specifically alleges its supply chain partners were conscripted into running proprietary processes for a direct competitor.
