Apple Sues OpenAI for Systematic Theft of Hardware Trade Secrets

On July 10, 2026, Apple Inc. filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against OpenAI, its hardware subsidiary io Products, and former employees Tang Yew Tan and Chang Liu. Apple alleges a systematic corporate espionage campaign to steal trade secrets regarding unreleased hardware, manufacturing processes, and supply chain strategies to accelerate OpenAI's development of AI-powered consumer devices.

The complaint claims Tang Yew Tan, OpenAI's Chief Hardware Officer and a former Apple VP, orchestrated the misappropriation by directing job candidates to bring physical prototypes and logic boards to interviews for "show and tell" sessions. Apple also accuses Chang Liu of exploiting an authentication bug to download thousands of confidential files from Apple's internal servers after his departure. Additionally, Apple alleges OpenAI recruited over 400 former employees and provided them with checklists to help evade Apple's security detection during offboarding.

OpenAI has denied the allegations, stating it has no interest in other companies' trade secrets and that the complaint lacks merit. This legal battle follows the deterioration of a 2024 partnership to integrate ChatGPT into Siri and OpenAI's $6.5 billion acquisition of io Products, a firm co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive. The litigation comes as OpenAI develops a screenless, portable smart speaker intended as a humanlike AI companion for a 2027 release. The dispute may complicate OpenAI's planned initial public offering and has already contributed to S&P Global Ratings downgrading Oracle's debt due to its financial ties to OpenAI.