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The iPhone maker alleges a former employee used a confidential Apple schematic at OpenAI, escalating one of Silicon Valley's most consequential trade secret battles.
Apple is not just accusing OpenAI of poaching its talent. It’s now claiming the AI company is actively destroying evidence in the middle of a federal lawsuit, while alleging that a former Apple engineer named Chang Liu used a confidential Apple schematic in his work at OpenAI.
How the lawsuit got here #
Apple filed the original suit on July 10, 2026, in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The case, numbered 5:26-cv-07078-EJD, targets OpenAI along with two former Apple employees: Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan.
Liu worked at Apple from 2018 until January 22, 2026, when he left to join OpenAI. Tan’s trajectory was even more conspicuous. He previously served as Apple’s VP of product design before becoming OpenAI’s chief hardware officer.
Apple’s core allegation is trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract, centered on OpenAI’s push into consumer hardware. The company claims Liu retained an Apple laptop after his departure and, through a discovered authentication bug, accessed Apple’s internal systems and downloaded over 1,000 pages of confidential files. Apple says they included critical hardware engineering documents.
Liu allegedly mocked Apple’s security measures in conversations, which Apple presented as evidence of his intentions.
Now Apple is going further, claiming that a confidential Apple schematic was directly used in Liu’s work at OpenAI, and that OpenAI has been destroying evidence relevant to the case.
OpenAI’s response and Apple’s counter #
OpenAI filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that any access Liu had to Apple’s files was legitimate. OpenAI characterized the underlying interactions as routine assistance requests among employees.
In early August 2026, Apple filed a motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to prevent disclosure of its alleged trade secrets and to preserve evidence. Apple has also emphasized the scale of its investment in the technology at stake, reportedly pointing to hundreds of billions of dollars poured into hardware innovation over the years.
The bigger talent war #
Apple claims that more than 400 of its former employees currently work at OpenAI. Apple alleges that OpenAI has actively solicited sensitive supplier details and project information from recruits.
OpenAI’s aggressive expansion into hardware follows its acquisition of io Products in 2025, a startup with ties to Apple and founded by former Apple executives, including Tang Yew Tan.
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