Apple sued OpenAI on July 10, 2026, alleging that former Apple employees now working at the AI company stole hardware trade secrets, including unreleased prototypes, supplier lists, and internal engineering documents. The complaint, filed in US district court in San Jose, names OpenAI chief hardware officer Tang Tan, engineer Chang Liu, and io Products — the hardware startup OpenAI acquired for $6.5 billion in 2025 — as defendants. Apple says more than 400 former Apple staff now work at OpenAI, and it wants an injunction, monetary damages, and the return of any misappropriated files.
Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple overseeing iPhone product design before leaving, is accused of emailing himself confidential supplier information before departing and then asking Apple employees he interviewed at OpenAI to bring "actual parts" — batteries, logic boards, shields — to "show and tell" sessions. Apple also alleges Tan copied an internal document outlining security procedures for departing employees and used it to coach recruits on how to prolong access to Apple systems and avoid signing exit paperwork.
Liu, who joined OpenAI from Apple in January, allegedly kept his company laptop and used a since-patched bug to retain access to Apple's internal file-sharing system. Apple says he downloaded dozens of confidential hardware files, including a presentation on manufacturing and testing complex circuit boards, and coached an Apple colleague he was recruiting on how to copy files without tripping the security team. Liu allegedly told the colleague to communicate over Line Messenger to avoid detection.
“OpenAI's nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets”— Apple, from the complaint filed in US district court in San Jose
Key facts
- 01Apple filed suit July 10, 2026 in US district court in San Jose, naming OpenAI, io Products, hardware chief Tang Tan, and engineer Chang Liu.
- 02More than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, according to the complaint.
- 03OpenAI paid $6.5 billion in 2025 to acquire io Products, co-founded by Tan, Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Jony Ive.
- 04Apple alleges Chang Liu downloaded dozens of confidential hardware files after leaving in January via a since-patched access bug.
- 05OpenAI has told courts it will not ship its first consumer device to customers until at least April 2027.
The complaint frames OpenAI as a company under pressure. OpenAI has said it is building a "family" of AI-powered consumer devices and has indicated in court filings it will not ship anything to customers until at least April 2027. Reports point to a voice-controlled tabletop puck as the first product. Apple's filing accuses OpenAI of "taking unlawful shortcuts" to make that deadline.
The io Products acquisition brought a cluster of Apple hardware veterans to OpenAI in one transaction, including Tan, Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and designer Jony Ive. Apple alleges that io has since approached at least two of Apple's suppliers to replicate its work, and that one supplier carried out "a specific trade secret metal-finishing technique for OpenAI" after being misled into thinking Apple had approved the project. A second supplier, focused on batteries, was asked "targeted questions" about Apple components.
Apple says it discovered the alleged theft early this year after Liu failed to return his company laptop and told a former colleague he still had access to internal systems. Apple wrote to OpenAI in February raising concerns and, according to the filing, received no response. The investigation, drawing on data and messages from employee devices, expanded from there.
Apple's public statement is short and unusually pointed for the company. The complaint uses harsher language, calling OpenAI's hardware effort "rotten to its core."
“Recently, significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple's secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products.”— Hannah Smith, Apple spokesperson
OpenAI has not yet responded publicly to the specific allegations, and neither Tan nor Liu had commented at the time of filing. The defendants have not entered a formal response in court, and none of the allegations have been tested. OpenAI will get its chance to answer each claim, and the case will turn on documentary evidence — emails, file-access logs, device forensics — that Apple says it has already gathered.
The closest analog is Waymo's 2017 case against Uber, which accused a former Waymo engineer of leaving with thousands of confidential files on self-driving hardware. Uber settled mid-trial in 2018 for $245 million without admitting liability. Trade-secret cases in Silicon Valley rarely reach verdict; they either settle or narrow sharply after discovery. The Apple filing reads as an opening position rather than a final theory.
Apple and OpenAI have been commercial partners since 2024, when they announced a deal to distribute ChatGPT on iPhones, Macs, and iPads. That relationship has cooled since — Apple has leaned more on Gemini for its in-house AI stack — and the two companies are on course to compete directly in AI-powered consumer devices. The lawsuit makes that competition adversarial in a way distribution deals rarely survive.
For OpenAI, the immediate risk is not the damages number but the injunction. If a court restricts what former Apple staff can work on, or forces OpenAI to segregate personnel and documents, the April 2027 shipping timeline slips. Hardware programs run on continuous supplier engagement and locked-down component specs; an injunction that touches either would be more expensive than any settlement. The case also puts every one of the 400-plus Apple hires under a legal microscope at exactly the moment OpenAI is trying to build a hardware culture from scratch — and it hands Apple leverage in whatever partnership renegotiation comes next.
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