How Apple’s big lawsuit could disrupt OpenAI’s IPO plans

Apple filed a trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging misconduct by its chief hardware officer and claiming over 400 former Apple employees now work at the company. The lawsuit threatens to disrupt OpenAI's reported IPO plans later this year, raising questions about trust in AI companies with data.

Apple filed a trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/13/the-wildest-allegations-in-apples-trade-secrets-lawsuit-against-openai/ last Friday, and it’s not messing around. The complaint alleges a pattern of misconduct reaching all the way up to OpenAI’s chief hardware officer and claims more than 400 former Apple employees now work at the company. OpenAI’s response so far https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/openai-pushes-back-on-apple-trade-secret-lawsuit/ has been carefully hedged, and the timing couldn’t be worse with the company reportedly eyeing an IPO as early as later this year. On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity https://techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity/ podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into what the lawsuit could mean for OpenAI’s own hardware ambitions and IPO timeline, plus a bigger theme running through the week’s news: how much should anyone trust AI companies with their data? Subscribe to Equity on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@TechCrunch , Apple Podcasts https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1215439780 , Overcast https://overcast.fm/itunes1215439780/equity , Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC?si=rZDFHv2sQUul g94iCRgpQ and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X https://twitter.com/EquityPod and Threads https://www.threads.net/@equitypod , at @EquityPod.