Apple Sues OpenAI Over Hardware Trade Secrets
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and two former employees on 10th July, alleging the ChatGPT maker orchestrated a systematic effort to steal trade secrets and accelerate its push into consumer hardware. The complaint, lodged in federal court in California, marks a sharp escalation in tensions between the two companies, which have a partnership that puts ChatGPT on iPhones.
The suit names former Apple senior system electrical engineer Chang Liu and former vice president of product design Tang Yew Tan. Apple claims Liu kept a company laptop and later used an authentication bug to download dozens of confidential hardware files. Tan, who worked on the iPhone for most of his 24 years at Apple, allegedly emailed himself supplier information and internal industry summaries before leaving. The complaint also states that Tan encouraged Apple employees to bring parts to OpenAI job interviews for what one candidate described as a "show and tell" session.
Apple said it wrote to OpenAI in February to raise concerns about its confidential information reaching the company but received no reply. More than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, the filing notes. OpenAI issued a brief statement saying it has no interest in other companies' trade secrets and remains focused on building its own technology.
The lawsuit zeroes in on the hardware ambitions OpenAI signalled when it bought io Products, the startup founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, for $6.5 billion last year. Analysts see the case as a fight over the next generation of AI devices that could bypass traditional apps and operating systems, directly threatening the iPhone. Stanford Law professor Mark Lemley said some of Apple's allegations, if true, would be a real problem for OpenAI, though California law does not bar hiring a competitor's employees.
Sources
Reuters. (2026). Apple sues OpenAI, two former employees for trade secrets theft.