Apple Sues OpenAI for Trade Secret Theft in AI Hardware Battle
Apple filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI on July 10, 2026, alleging the AI company ran a coordinated scheme to steal its trade secrets. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, names Tang Tan — OpenAI's chief hardware officer and a 24-year Apple veteran — alongside Chang Liu, a former senior systems electrical engineer who joined OpenAI earlier this year.
What Apple is alleging
The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of systematically soliciting Apple's confidential information through its hiring process. According to the filing, Tan directed job candidates still employed at Apple to bring actual hardware parts to interviews for what the complaint calls "show and tell" sessions. Some candidates were told to carry CAD files, prototypes, and proprietary data about unannounced products. One candidate began downloading confidential Apple project files hours before their OpenAI interview. Another was allegedly coached on how to bypass Apple's internal security procedures on the way out.
Liu's case is particularly striking. Apple alleges he kept a work-issued laptop after resigning, then exploited a previously unknown authentication bug to access Apple's shared network folders remotely. From there, he downloaded dozens of hardware-related files covering engineering presentations, technical specifications, and proprietary project data about unreleased products.
Apple notes that over 400 former employees are now at OpenAI — a figure the filing uses to argue the talent migration was not coincidental but organized.
The hardware rivalry behind the lawsuit
OpenAI has spent two years building out a hardware division. In 2025, it acquired io Products — a startup co-founded by Jony Ive, Apple's former chief design officer — for approximately 6.4 billion dollars. Ive now leads OpenAI's device work, though he was not named in the filing. Industry analysts have described OpenAI's planned device as a potential iPhone competitor: an AI-native gadget that would let users interact with ChatGPT without depending on Apple's App Store or operating system.
Apple's motivation is not complicated. The company is not just protecting past innovations. It is trying to prevent a competitor from building a future product on top of them.
The timing adds another layer. Apple and OpenAI entered a partnership in 2024 when ChatGPT was integrated into Apple Intelligence and made available through Siri. That relationship now looks strained. Apple's filing states the partnership is not at issue in this lawsuit but stopped short of guaranteeing it will survive the case.
OpenAI's response and what comes next
OpenAI responded with a brief public statement: "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere." The company offered nothing beyond that.
Apple is asking the court to bar OpenAI from using or disclosing its trade secrets, require the return of all confidential materials, award damages, and force OpenAI to redesign any products that use Apple's proprietary information. The filing also requests a jury trial.
The lawsuit lands at a difficult moment for OpenAI, which confidentially filed its S-1 registration documents last month ahead of a long-anticipated public offering. A trade secret case naming its hardware leadership is not what underwriters prefer to see surfacing mid-process. For Apple, the filing serves a dual purpose: a legal action and a public signal to anyone still at the company who might be weighing what to bring to a competitor's interview.
Discovery alone could take years. The documents it surfaces may be uncomfortable for both sides. Apple's filing describes what it found as "the tip of the iceberg."