Apple sues OpenAI over hardware trade secrets
Apple is taking legal action against OpenAI, alleging the AI firm built its nascent hardware business by systematically stealing confidential product designs and poaching key engineers.
Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday, accusing the artificial intelligence company and two of its former employees of stealing trade secrets related to the iPhone maker's hardware. The legal action targets Chang Liu, a former senior system electrical engineer, and Tang Yew Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple overseeing product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch before becoming OpenAI's chief hardware officer.
The complaint details a systematic effort to acquire Apple's confidential technology. Apple alleges that after leaving the company in January 2026, Liu failed to return his laptop or complete an exit interview. He then reportedly exploited an authentication bug to access internal systems, downloading dozens of files containing technical specifications and engineering presentations for unreleased products.
Liu is also accused of actively coaching a former Apple colleague on how to evade the company's security team while copying files to prepare for her own interview at OpenAI. The allegations against Tan, who was entrusted with Apple's most sensitive projects, focus on the methodical extraction of data. Before his departure, Tan allegedly emailed himself internal summaries of the consumer electronics industry and information about Apple's suppliers.
After joining OpenAI, the lawsuit claims Tan used the interview process itself to gather more intelligence, requesting that candidates bring actual Apple parts for "show and tell" sessions. These practices directly threaten OpenAI's nascent hardware business, which is slated to launch its first physical product, the Codex Micro macro pad, on July 15.
Apple warned that these discoveries are merely the "tip of the iceberg," arguing that OpenAI's hardware division is "on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets." A spokesperson for OpenAI denied the accusations, stating the company has "no interest in other companies' trade secrets." "We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere," the spokesperson added.
The dispute illustrates the friction occurring as software-focused AI firms pivot toward physical consumer electronics. For investors, the litigation introduces significant legal risk to OpenAI's hardware roadmap, while demonstrating that legacy tech incumbents will aggressively use the courts to protect their supply chains and product pipelines from fast-moving rivals.
