Apple sues OpenAI alleging trade-secret theft of hardware designs

Apple filed suit against OpenAI in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing the company of a coordinated campaign to obtain Apple’s confidential hardware designs as OpenAI builds consumer devices of its own. The complaint names OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, Tang Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple including as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, and Chang Liu, a former Apple electrical engineer who joined OpenAI in 2026. It also names io Products, the hardware venture co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive that OpenAI acquired.

Apple’s allegations include that Tan used Apple code names when recruiting, asked prospective hires to bring in Apple hardware components and coached departing employees on evading Apple’s security screening. Separately, the complaint alleges Liu failed to return an Apple-issued laptop, downloaded confidential technical documents, and shared them with job applicants. Apple said it raised concerns in a February 2026 letter and received no response, and sought an injunction barring use or disclosure of the disputed material.

OpenAI said it had “no interest in other companies’ trade secrets” and later published a detailed public rebuttal.

At a hearing on 14 October, US District Judge Edward Davila said he was “highly likely” to grant Apple a preliminary injunction blocking OpenAI from using the disputed material, according to Claims Journal. He was more sceptical of Apple’s request for broad forensic inspection, calling it a “huge ask”; Apple’s counsel offered to narrow it to the former Apple employees concerned. The Next Web, citing the proceedings, reported that OpenAI agreed not to use the alleged trade secrets while the case continues, and that forensic copies would be made of the devices of 14 staff who may hold Apple data. No written injunction order had been reported at the time of writing.

OpenAI also made allegations of its own. In a supplement to the joint case management statement filed on 14 October, it said a forensic investigation had found that a former OpenAI employee, who joined from Apple, worked there six months and has returned to Apple, sent “over a hundred highly confidential files” about at least one unreleased device to his personal accounts, some just after midnight in Singapore on 2 June, his last day. It also said it understood he had presented OpenAI’s product plans to Apple’s senior leadership. These are OpenAI’s allegations, not findings. The filing brought no counterclaims; it asked for a schedule that would let OpenAI investigate and, if necessary, file them.

Apple told Reuters, as relayed by The Next Web, that it had found no evidence for the claims; Claims Journal reported it calling the filing a distraction from “significant evidence” that its employees took Apple product information. The Next Web, citing Reuters, said trial was likely in October 2027, though OpenAI has said it could be ready by June 2027.