Apple sues OpenAI over hardware secrets
Apple filed a federal lawsuit July 10 accusing OpenAI of stealing hardware trade secrets, naming its hardware chief and a former Apple engineer.
Apple filed a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of California on July 10 accusing OpenAI of running a campaign to steal hardware trade secrets. The suit names OpenAI, io Products (the Jony Ive hardware company OpenAI acquired for $6.4 billion), Tang Yew Tan (OpenAI’s hardware chief and a former Apple VP who joined the company last year), and Chang Liu (a former Apple senior electrical engineer).
The complaint alleges that OpenAI asked job candidates to bring physical Apple parts and internal documentation to interviews. Chang Liu is separately accused of exploiting a software bug to access Apple’s cloud storage after leaving the company, while already employed by OpenAI.
The filing describes the scheme as reaching “at every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer.” Apple is seeking damages and an injunction.
The suit arrives against a backdrop of rapidly deteriorating relations. Apple and OpenAI partnered in 2024 to bring ChatGPT into iPhone through Apple Intelligence. That cooperation strained after OpenAI announced plans to enter the consumer hardware market through io Products. Apple and OpenAI now compete directly in that segment.
What it means for you
The Apple-OpenAI commercial relationship is now legally contentious. ChatGPT’s integration inside Apple Intelligence is still live, and Apple has not moved to remove it. But any product roadmap that assumes those two companies stay cooperative partners over the next 12 to 18 months carries more uncertainty than it did a week ago.
For builders who route workflows through ChatGPT’s Apple Intelligence integration, the immediate impact is nothing. The longer-term risk is that escalating litigation shapes how Apple treats that integration at renewal time.
Update, August 4
Apple filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and expedited discovery, seeking to block OpenAI and the two named ex-Apple employees from accessing, using, or disclosing what it calls its confidential information, and asking to depose both defendants along with two additional OpenAI staffers who previously worked at Apple. Apple’s court filings indicate more former employees may have carried confidential material to OpenAI than originally alleged. The injunction hearing is set for October 1. OpenAI published a public rebuttal the same week, sharing internal chats and emails and stating it does not have and does not want Apple’s trade secrets, taking the unusual step of litigating part of its defense in public rather than only in court filings.