Apple Sues OpenAI for Trade Secret Theft, Alleging Systematic Poaching of 400-Plus Employees

Apple sued OpenAI in federal court on Thursday, accusing the AI company of orchestrating a campaign to steal trade secrets by poaching over 400 employees and directing them to bring confidential hardware designs and components to job interviews. The lawsuit names former Apple executives Tang Tan and Chang Liu as central figures in the alleged scheme, marking a dramatic reversal of the 2024 partnership between the two companies.

Apple Sues OpenAI for Trade Secret Theft, Alleging Systematic Poaching of 400-Plus Employees - Apple filed a 40-page lawsuit in the Northern District of California accusing OpenAI of misappropriating trade secrets through more than 400 former Apple employees 1 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets.html - The complaint alleges OpenAI hardware chief Tang Tan, a former Apple VP, directed job candidates to bring 'actual parts' including batteries and logic boards to interview 'show and tell' sessions 2 https://fortune.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets-theft-allegations/ - Former Apple engineer Chang Liu allegedly exploited a software bug to access Apple's internal network after joining OpenAI, downloading dozens of confidential hardware files 3 https://fortune.com/2026/07/11/openai-engineers-legal-fight-apple-ai-product-poaching/ - Apple seeks injunctive relief, monetary damages, and declaratory judgments; OpenAI denied the allegations, saying it has 'no interest in other companies' trade secrets' 4 https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/technology/3948723-apple-sues-openai-battle-over-trade-secrets - The suit marks a dramatic reversal of the Apple-OpenAI partnership forged in 2024, when ChatGPT was integrated into Apple devices 2 https://fortune.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets-theft-allegations/ Apple sued OpenAI in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Thursday, alleging the AI company orchestrated a sweeping campaign to steal Apple's trade secrets by poaching more than 400 employees and coaching them to bring confidential hardware designs, supplier data, and unreleased product specifications with them when they left 1 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets.html 2 . The 40-page complaint names two former Apple employees as central figures: Tang Tan, OpenAI's chief hardware officer and a 24-year Apple veteran who rose to vice president overseeing iPhone and Apple Watch design, and Chang Liu, a former senior electrical engineer who allegedly stole an Apple laptop and exploited a software bug to access the company's internal file servers while employed at OpenAI 2 https://fortune.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets-theft-allegations/ 3 . "This much is clear: at every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple's trade secrets and confidential information," Apple said in the filing 1 . OpenAI denied the allegations, stating: "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets" . 4 https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/technology/3948723-apple-sues-openai-battle-over-trade-secrets The lawsuit represents a dramatic fracture between two companies that partnered in 2024 to integrate ChatGPT into Apple's devices. Tensions escalated after OpenAI acquired former Apple design chief Jony Ive's hardware startup, io Products, for $6.4 billion in May 2025, signaling its ambitions to build a competing consumer device 2 . The Allegations Apple's complaint lays out two main threads of alleged misconduct. The first centers on Tang Tan, who spent roughly 24 years at Apple before departing in 2024 to join io Products, the hardware venture co-founded by Jony Ive that OpenAI later acquired 2 . Apple alleges Tan used the company's confidential internal project codenames during OpenAI's recruiting process to elicit sensitive information from candidates who were still Apple employees . 1 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets.html The lawsuit accuses Tan of directing interviewees to physically bring Apple hardware components—batteries, logic boards, and system-in-package modules—to their interviews for what Apple describes as 'show and tell' sessions 1 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets.html 2 . Apple further alleges Tan coached departing employees on how to evade the company's security procedures and emailed himself supplier information before leaving . 4 https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/technology/3948723-apple-sues-openai-battle-over-trade-secrets The second thread involves Chang Liu, a former senior electrical engineer on the iPhone team. After joining OpenAI's hardware division, Liu allegedly discovered a software bug that allowed him to access Apple's cloud-based file storage. According to the complaint, Liu messaged former Apple colleague Alyssa Peng: 'LOL, I found out I can access the network storage , so funny' 3 . Liu then allegedly downloaded dozens of confidential files including engineering presentations, hardware designs, manufacturing details, and technical specifications for unreleased products. Peng assisted in obtaining additional files through her own Apple laptop and subsequently left Apple to join OpenAI's hardware division 3 . The Hardware Rivalry The suit is rooted in the intensifying competition between Apple and OpenAI over AI-powered consumer hardware. OpenAI's $6.4 billion acquisition of io Products in May 2025 brought Jony Ive—the designer behind the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook—into OpenAI's orbit and signaled the AI company's intention to build its first physical device 2 . Apple's complaint alleges that the misappropriated trade secrets—including product designs, supply chain strategies, vendor relationships, and proprietary engineering data—are being used to develop OpenAI's forthcoming hardware product 4 . Ive is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit . 2 https://fortune.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets-theft-allegations/ More than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, according to the complaint, which characterizes the hiring pattern as a deliberate campaign to replicate Apple's consumer electronics expertise rather than ordinary talent competition 1 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets.html 5 . Market and Legal Context Apple shares were trading at $315.32 on Friday, down 0.28%, giving the company a market capitalization of approximately $4.63 trillion. The stock is up nearly 16% year-to-date and roughly 49% over the past 12 months 6 . Apple is seeking injunctive relief to stop the alleged theft, monetary damages, and declaratory judgments. The case was filed in a jurisdiction that has handled numerous Silicon Valley trade-secret disputes 4 . The lawsuit echoes prior high-profile trade secret cases in the tech industry, but the scale of the allegations—involving a company's chief hardware officer and hundreds of employees—is unusually broad. It also tests the boundaries of California's traditionally employee-friendly labor mobility culture, which prohibits non-compete agreements but still enforces trade secret protections. What's Next The case is expected to proceed through discovery in the Northern District of California, where the court will evaluate Apple's claims of misappropriation under federal and state trade secret law. OpenAI will need to respond formally to the complaint in the coming weeks. The lawsuit's outcome has significant implications for OpenAI's hardware ambitions. An injunction barring OpenAI from using any misappropriated information could delay or reshape the company's consumer device plans. For the broader tech industry, the case will test where the line falls between legitimate talent competition and coordinated trade-secret theft in the AI era. Companies mentioned Further sources 1 CNBC: Apple sues OpenAI alleging trade secret theft, says scheme was 'at every … ↗ https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets.html 2 Fortune: Apple accuses OpenAI, and former design star Jony Ive's io Products fi… ↗ https://fortune.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets-theft-allegations/ 3 Fortune: OpenAI engineer's 'LOL' moment set stage for legal fight with Apple ↗ https://fortune.com/2026/07/11/openai-engineers-legal-fight-apple-ai-product-poaching/ 4 DevDiscourse: Apple Sues OpenAI: Battle Over Trade Secrets ↗ https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/technology/3948723-apple-sues-openai-battle-over-trade-secrets 5 WCCFTech: OpenAI Poached Over 400 Apple Employees And Told Recruits To Bring Ha… ↗ https://wccftech.com/openai-poached-over-400-apple-employees-and-told-recruits-to-bring-hardware-samples-for-show-and-tell-sessions-apples-lawsuit-alleges/ 6 FMP market data for AAPL, accessed July 11, 2026 ↗ https://financialmodelingprep.com The stories that matter, in one email. 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