Apple vs OpenAI: lawsuit targets alleged theft of hardware secrets

Apple has filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI, io Products and two of its former employees. In a complaint submitted to the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the company alleges that OpenAI unlawfully obtained trade secrets tied to Apple's hardware development. The filing describes OpenAI's hardware business as built on the “unlawful use of misappropriated secrets” and “rotten to the core.”

The case also names io Products, a hardware company linked to former Apple design chief Jony Ive and acquired by OpenAI in 2025. Ive himself is not listed as a defendant, but Apple claims io Products participated in a coordinated scheme of misconduct across the organization. According to Apple, this was not a series of isolated incidents but a systematic effort to collect confidential information.

The defendants include former senior Apple engineer Chang Liu and former Apple vice president Tang Yew Tan, now OpenAI's chief hardware officer. Apple alleges that Liu secretly downloaded dozens of confidential files, including information on unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications and internal project materials. The company also accuses Tan of asking candidates who still worked at Apple to bring real components and disclose device details during interviews with OpenAI's team.

Apple says that more than 400 former employees have moved to OpenAI and that interviews were allegedly used to obtain additional proprietary information. OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri rejected the allegations, saying the company is “not interested in other companies' trade secrets” and remains focused on building its own innovative technology.

The lawsuit concerns OpenAI's hardware business and the alleged misuse of Apple's data. The two companies still maintain their Apple Intelligence partnership, which integrates ChatGPT into Apple devices, and neither side has announced an end to that agreement.