Apple sues OpenAI for allegedly stealing hardware secrets
Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that former employees now working at the AI company stole proprietary hardware trade secrets. The complaint names specific individuals and entities, claiming they accessed and transferred confidential files regarding unreleased Apple technologies.
Why it matters
This legal battle underscores the intense competition for talent and intellectual property in the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence and hardware sectors.
Apple has sued OpenAI, alleging that former employees that now work for the AI company have stolen Apple’s trade secrets “for the benefit of OpenAI.” In its complaint, Apple alleges that it has uncovered “a pattern of theft of Apple’s trade secrets by OpenAI employees who were formerly at Apple,” and it names IO Products (Jony Ive’s hardware startup that OpenAI bought in 2025), Tang Tan (OpenAI’s chief hardware officer), and Chang Liu (who joined OpenAI from Apple in January) as defendants.
An Apple spokesperson shared this statement with 9to5Mac:
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