Apple sued OpenAI for allegedly stealing trade secrets tied to unreleased hardware and supply chain data. The lawsuit names two former Apple employees now at the AI startup.
Apple sued OpenAI on Friday, accusing the AI startup of systematically stealing trade secrets tied to unreleased hardware, supply chain data, and product specifications. The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California, names two former Apple employees now at OpenAI – Tang Tan, the startup's chief hardware officer, and Chang Liu, a technical staff member – along with io Products, the hardware design firm OpenAI acquired last year that was cofounded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive.
“At every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” Apple said in the 41-page complaint. “OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”
OpenAI denied the allegations. “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets,” the company said in a statement. “We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”
The lawsuit marks a sharp turn for two companies that once worked together to bring ChatGPT into Apple’s software and Siri. That partnership faded, and in January Apple said it would turn to Google for its Apple Intelligence efforts.
Apple accuses Tan of using confidential Apple codenames during OpenAI’s recruiting process, encouraging interviewers to share secrets, and directing them to physically bring Apple hardware parts into interviews. Tan left Apple in 2024 after roughly 24 years, where he had risen from product designer to vice president over iPhone and Apple Watch design. Liu is accused of downloading dozens of confidential hardware files, including technical specifications and engineering presentations, and instructing an Apple employee on how to bypass security teams when copying files. OpenAI is also accused of using knowledge of Apple’s supplier relationships to approach its supply chain partners.
An Apple spokeswoman said the company’s teams “are constantly developing breakthrough technologies to create the best products and services in the world, and protecting their work and intellectual property is something we take very seriously.”
OpenAI has been building hardware devices to run ChatGPT, part of a strategy to control its own physical products. In May 2025 it announced it would buy Ive’s io Products for $6.4 billion. CEO Sam Altman has said he envisions a new class of AI gadget that could replace smartphones. Ive is not named in the lawsuit.
The case arrives at a transition point for both companies. Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to hand the reins to John Ternus in September. OpenAI is preparing for an initial public offering as competition from Anthropic and Google intensifies.
Apple is seeking injunctive relief, monetary damages, and declaratory judgments to stop the alleged theft. This is not the first time OpenAI has faced such accusations. In 2023, The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging unauthorized use of its articles to train AI models. In June, a California judge dismissed a similar lawsuit from Elon Musk’s xAI.
For Apple, the risk is that proprietary hardware knowledge – especially around supply chain and unreleased products – has already reached a competitor building a rival device. For OpenAI, the lawsuit could complicate its IPO narrative and hardware timeline. The next concrete marker is the court’s response to Apple’s request for an injunction.
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