Apple filed a sweeping lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday, alleging the artificial intelligence company orchestrated a systematic campaign to steal trade secrets from Apple employees to accelerate its own hardware ambitions. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, marks a dramatic escalation in the rivalry between two of the world’s most valuable technology companies.
The complaint accuses OpenAI of directing former Apple employees to bring confidential designs, prototypes, and proprietary information to their interviews — and in some cases, coaching departing staff on how to evade Apple’s security procedures. Apple alleges the misconduct was directed by OpenAI’s senior leadership, including Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple before joining OpenAI.
What Apple Alleges
At the center of the lawsuit are two former Apple employees: Tang Tan, who served as Apple’s vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch before joining OpenAI, and Chang Liu, a senior systems electrical engineer who spent eight years at Apple before departing in 2026.
According to the complaint, Tan used Apple’s confidential project code names during OpenAI’s recruiting process and asked job candidates to bring Apple hardware components to their interviews. Liu is accused of failing to return an Apple-issued laptop after leaving the company and using it to download confidential technical documents, including specifications for unannounced technologies and proprietary project data.
Apple also claims Liu shared confidential information with other Apple employees who were applying for jobs at OpenAI, advising at least one of them on what to study before their interview. The company says it sent a letter to OpenAI in February raising its concerns and received no response.
The Scale of the Alleged Operation
More than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, according to the lawsuit. Apple alleges this is not a coincidence but the result of a deliberate strategy to extract confidential information from the iPhone maker. The complaint states that OpenAI and its partners have already used Apple’s confidential information while developing their own hardware products, including a proprietary metal finishing technique that OpenAI allegedly used after misleading a partner into believing it had Apple’s permission.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” the filing states. “Apple lacks visibility into what’s been happening behind closed doors at OpenAI, where such misconduct is normalized and exemplified by leadership. As a natural result, OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”
Why This Matters: The AI Hardware Battle
The lawsuit arrives at a pivotal moment. OpenAI is widely rumored to be developing its first consumer hardware product — a device that could compete directly with the iPhone. In April, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested the device could be a smartphone that relies on AI agents instead of traditional apps. If accurate, it would represent one of the most significant threats to Apple’s core hardware business in the company’s history.
OpenAI’s hardware ambitions were further signaled by its $6.5 billion acquisition of io, the device startup founded by Apple’s former lead designer Jony Ive, last year. While io was named in the filing, Ive himself was not.
The legal action also represents a major rupture in what had appeared to be a growing partnership between the two companies. Apple and OpenAI had previously collaborated on integrating ChatGPT into Apple’s ecosystem, making the lawsuit all the more striking.
What Apple Wants
Apple is asking the court to bar OpenAI from using or disclosing its trade secrets, require the company to return any confidential Apple materials, and preserve all evidence related to the case. The legal discovery process could give Apple unprecedented visibility into OpenAI’s internal operations and hiring practices.
In a prepared statement, Apple said: “At Apple, our 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. Recently, significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple’s secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products.”
OpenAI Responds
OpenAI responded to the lawsuit 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 has not yet filed a formal legal response.
What Comes Next
The case is expected to move through the Northern District of California, the same federal court that has presided over many of the technology industry’s most consequential legal battles. Legal experts suggest the discovery process could be particularly damaging for OpenAI if Apple’s allegations are substantiated, potentially delaying or derailing the company’s hardware plans.
For the broader technology industry, the lawsuit signals that the battle over AI hardware is entering a new, more contentious phase — one where the lines between collaboration and competition are increasingly blurred, and where the talent war for AI engineers has escalated into something far more serious.