Apple Sues OpenAI Over Alleged Hardware Trade Secrets
SkimNews Take
Apple's lawsuit describes a coordinated pattern — systematic file downloads paired with recruiting of departing staffers — exposing departure itself as the structural weak point in hardware IP controls.
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- Apple sued OpenAI, IO Products, and two ex-Apple engineers — Tang Tan (OpenAI's chief hardware officer) and Chang Liu — alleging a "pattern of theft" of trade secrets tied to unreleased hardware.
- Liu is accused of accessing Apple's systems after leaving and downloading "dozens of" confidential hardware files, and of coaching a former Apple colleague to copy files and evade Apple's security team by communicating over Line Messenger.
- Tan allegedly emailed himself Apple supplier information before departing and solicited confidential Apple details when interviewing Apple employees for OpenAI positions.
- OpenAI allegedly told departing Apple staffers to bring "CAD/design artifacts" and "prototypes" to interviews, and steered an Apple partner running proprietary industrial design and metal-finishing techniques to perform that work for OpenAI.
- Apple claims more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI and says it raised concerns with OpenAI in February, receiving "no response."
- OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri told The Verge: "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets."
- OpenAI's first hardware product is expected next year; Apple argues in the suit that the business "now rests on the shakiest of foundations."
Why it matters: Apple's case reframes individual departures as a coordinated effort, citing 400+ former Apple staff now at OpenAI and one employee coaching another to use Line Messenger to dodge security. Apple publicly named an Apple supplier partner as running proprietary industrial-design processes for OpenAI — a claim that, if proven, exposes direct supply-chain compromise beyond employee-level leakage.
