Apple Sues OpenAI Over Trade Secret Theft by Ex-Employees

Apple filed a lawsuit on Friday against OpenAI and two of its former employees, alleging systematic theft of trade secrets intended to fuel OpenAI's growing hardware ambitions. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The Defendants

The lawsuit names Chang Liu, a former senior system electrical engineer at Apple who joined OpenAI in January 2026 after eight years at the company, and Tang Tan, Apple's former Vice President of product design who led iPhone and Apple Watch design before departing in February 2024 to work with designer Jony Ive's startup io. OpenAI later acquired io in a $6.5 billion deal, making Ive the head of the company's hardware efforts.

Alleged Misconduct

Apple claims Tan used insider knowledge of confidential Apple projects while interviewing potential hires still employed at Apple. He allegedly used Apple's internal project codenames to probe candidates and directed them to bring physical hardware parts and CAD design artifacts from Apple's facilities for "show and tell" sessions at OpenAI. Apple says one candidate was surprised, commenting that he "didn't even know we could take those from the office."

Liu is accused of exploiting a security vulnerability to download over a thousand pages of confidential engineering files — including detailed manufacturing documents for Apple's circuit boards — after his departure. Rather than report the bug, he reportedly joked about it in messages. He also allegedly coached a colleague he was recruiting for OpenAI on which confidential materials to review before her own interview.

Apple's Statement

"This case is about Apple's former employees stealing Apple's trade secrets for the benefit of OpenAI," the company stated in the filing. Apple told 9to5Mac: "Protecting their work and intellectual property is something we take very seriously." The company says it first contacted OpenAI about these concerns in February 2026 and received no response, calling the behavior documented in the lawsuit "the tip of the iceberg."

Apple also alleges that OpenAI misled one of Apple's longtime manufacturing partners into performing Apple's proprietary metal-finishing technique without Apple's permission. The lawsuit seeks both injunctive relief and damages. Today, more than 400 former Apple employees work at OpenAI.

The lawsuit comes as OpenAI works to bring its first consumer hardware device to market. Separately, Bloomberg previously reported that OpenAI was considering legal action against Apple over the Siri-ChatGPT integration agreement, though Apple's filing makes clear that partnership is not at issue here.