Apple Sues OpenAI, Alleges Its Hardware Chief Ran a Trade Secret Pipeline From Cupertino

Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday accusing the company of stealing trade secrets and breaching contracts, alleging that former Apple employees hired by OpenAI systematically funneled confidential information about unreleased products to their new employer, with the scheme allegedly directed by OpenAI's own leadership.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, centers on Tang Tan, OpenAI's Chief Hardware Officer, who spent 24 years at Apple before leaving, most recently serving as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch. Apple's complaint accuses Tan of using the company's internal project code names during OpenAI job interviews, asking candidates to physically bring Apple hardware components with them, coaching Apple employees who were leaving on how to dodge the company's security protocols, and probing them for details on unannounced products.

Apple describes this as part of a broader pattern rather than an isolated incident, one it says was "normalized and exemplified by leadership" at OpenAI.

A second employee, a missing laptop

The complaint also names Chang Liu, a former senior systems electrical engineer who spent eight years at Apple before departing for OpenAI in 2026. According to the filing, Liu failed to return an Apple-issued laptop after leaving and used it to download confidential technical documents, including material on unannounced technologies, features, and products. Apple says the trove included technical specifications, engineering presentations, and proprietary project data.

Liu is also accused of passing that confidential information along to other Apple employees who were themselves applying to OpenAI, in at least one case advising a candidate on what to study beforehand.

Apple says it flagged its concerns to OpenAI directly in a letter sent back in February and never got a response. That silence, combined with what the company describes as an ongoing internal investigation, appears to have pushed Apple toward litigation.

Why OpenAI's hardware ambitions are the backdrop here

None of this is happening in a vacuum. OpenAI has been widely rumored to be building its first hardware product, one that could plausibly compete with the iPhone itself. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested in April that the device might be a smartphone built around AI agents rather than traditional apps, a design philosophy that would represent a fundamentally different approach to mobile computing than anything Apple currently ships. If that reporting holds up, it would mark one of the more serious challenges to Apple's core hardware business in years.

OpenAI already made a major move to staff up for this effort last year, acquiring io, the hardware startup founded by Apple's former lead designer Jony Ive, in a deal reportedly worth $6.5 billion. io is named in Apple's new filing, though notably, Ive himself is not.

Apple's complaint goes further than accusing individuals of misconduct. It alleges that OpenAI and its manufacturing partners have actually used Apple's confidential information while developing OpenAI's own hardware. As one example, the filing points to a proprietary metal finishing technique that Apple says OpenAI used after allegedly misleading a partner into believing Apple had authorized it.

That claim, if borne out, suggests the alleged theft wasn't just about recruiting intelligence, it potentially shaped decisions in OpenAI's actual product development.

What Apple wants, and what happens next

Apple is asking the court to block OpenAI from using or disclosing any of its trade secrets, to force the company to return whatever confidential materials it holds, and to preserve evidence relevant to the case. That last request matters: taking this fight to court gives Apple access to the legal discovery process, a mechanism that could force OpenAI to turn over internal communications and records Apple otherwise has no way of seeing. Apple typically investigates suspected trade secret theft by combing through company-owned devices and server logs, but that only covers its own side of the equation. Discovery would let Apple look inside OpenAI.

The language in Apple's filing is unusually blunt for a corporate legal document. It calls the alleged misconduct "the tip of the iceberg" and argues that OpenAI's hardware business is now "rotten to its core" because of its "illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets."

In a prepared statement, Apple struck a similar tone, saying that "significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple's secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products," and pledging to defend its teams' work "and innovations."

OpenAI's response, shared publicly on X, was considerably shorter: "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere."

That's a flat denial without engaging any of the specific allegations, and it leaves plenty unanswered, including whether Tan or Liu will face any individual consequences and how OpenAI plans to counter documented claims about interview practices and a missing laptop. The case is still in its early stages, and Apple's own investigation appears to be ongoing.

What makes this dispute worth watching isn't just the legal drama. It's a rare public window into the collision between two very different Silicon Valley cultures, the closed, secrecy-obsessed world of Apple hardware development and the fast-moving, talent-poaching dynamics of the AI industry, at exactly the moment those two worlds are starting to compete directly for the same product category.