Apple Sues OpenAI Over Stolen Hardware Secrets as IPO Nears

Apple sued OpenAI on Friday, accusing the ChatGPT maker of stealing iPhone hardware secrets to build its first consumer device. The complaint, filed in federal court in Northern California, names two former Apple engineers and OpenAI’s hardware unit, io Products, as defendants. Apple says the scheme ran “at every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer,” according to the filing.

The timing lands awkwardly for OpenAI. The lawsuit from the $4.6 trillion iPhone maker arrives just as OpenAI steers toward a historic public offering. It is also fighting a separate trademark case tied to the same hardware unit, two months after beating Elon Musk in a different courtroom.

A Complaint Built on Laptops and Borrowed Parts

Apple’s filing accuses Chang Liu, a former senior systems electrical engineer who spent eight years at Apple, of exploiting an undisclosed authentication bug to reach Apple’s internal file storage after he left for OpenAI in January 2026. Apple says he downloaded dozens of confidential hardware files, including engineering presentations and specifications for unreleased products.

“LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny,” Liu wrote to a former colleague still employed at Apple, according to the complaint.

Tang Yew Tan, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer and a 24-year Apple veteran who led iPhone and Apple Watch product design, faces separate allegations. Apple claims he emailed himself supplier information before departing and used his role in OpenAI’s hiring process to pump Apple staff for details.

“He has directed job candidates still working for Apple to bring ‘actual parts’ from Apple to their interviews for ‘show and tell’ sessions in which he and his team at OpenAI can elicit still more Apple confidential information,” Apple wrote in the filing.

The complaint also claims OpenAI misled a shared manufacturing partner into performing a proprietary metal-finishing process by falsely suggesting Apple had approved it. Apple says it sent OpenAI a letter in February raising its concerns and never got a response. It is now asking the court for an injunction barring OpenAI from using the material, an order to return it, and damages.

Apple’s language throughout the filing is unusually blunt for a corporate complaint.

This is the tip of the iceberg. Apple lacks visibility into what’s been happening behind closed doors at OpenAI, where such misconduct is normalized and exemplified by leadership.

That line comes straight from Apple’s court filing. OpenAI’s response was far shorter. “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere,” said Drew Pusateri, OpenAI’s director of strategic communications.

Four Hundred Departures and a Multibillion Dollar Bet

Apple’s complaint puts a number on the exodus. The company says more than 400 of its former employees now work at OpenAI, which Apple frames as evidence of a pipeline rather than ordinary poaching.

• 400+ former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, according to Apple’s complaint.
• 24 years Tang Yew Tan spent at Apple before becoming OpenAI’s chief hardware officer.
• 8 years Chang Liu’s tenure as an Apple systems electrical engineer before he left in January 2026.

OpenAI’s hardware push traces back to an all-stock deal valued near $6.5 billion that folded Jony Ive’s io Products into OpenAI last year, bringing Tan along as a co-founder. California law lets companies recruit freely from rivals. Apple’s complaint argues that freedom stops where stolen files begin.

Why Isn’t Jony Ive Named as a Defendant?

Jony Ive, Apple’s design chief until 2019, co-founded io Products with Tan and two others, but Apple’s suit does not name him personally or accuse him of wrongdoing. He now leads design work across OpenAI and io, while the legal exposure lands squarely on Tan, Liu and the corporate entities around them.

Ive left Apple after nearly three decades and later founded the design house LoveFrom. OpenAI has said little publicly about what its hardware team is building, though outside reporting points to a venture to build new AI-enabled devices rather than a phone replacement. Sam Altman has said the goal is a device that wouldn’t replace the smartphone, describing something closer to a screenless, always-on companion.

A Legal Ledger Piling Up Before an IPO

OpenAI has already had one big win in court this year. A federal jury ruled two months ago that Elon Musk waited too long to sue the company over claims that leadership abandoned its nonprofit roots. Musk has said he will appeal.

Now Apple adds a second front, and a third already exists. A smaller hardware startup separately sued OpenAI and io Products over branding, then widened that case to include its own trade secret claims. None of this touches OpenAI’s underlying AI models. All of it touches the hardware unit at the exact moment OpenAI needs investors to trust that unit’s foundations.

OpenAI’s own timeline has already slipped once. At Davos in January, the company’s chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, told Axios a device would ship in the first half of 2026. That window closed before Apple ever filed suit.

Apple, meanwhile, has started walking away from OpenAI’s models on its own turf. The revamped Siri due this fall will run on Google’s Gemini instead of ChatGPT, a switch Apple has confirmed even as the two companies keep a separate commercial deal running. Fortune reported the suit also lands during a leadership handoff at Apple, with Tim Cook set to give way to John Ternus in September.

Two Years From Partnership to Lawsuit

The relationship traces a short, sharp arc from cooperation to courtroom.

1. 2024: Apple and OpenAI announce a partnership bringing ChatGPT into Siri and iOS.
2. May 2025: OpenAI announces its acquisition of io Products, Jony Ive’s hardware startup.
3. July 2025: The io Products acquisition closes, and Tan and other co-founders join OpenAI.
4. January 2026: Chang Liu leaves Apple for OpenAI without returning his company laptop, Apple alleges.
5. February 2026: Apple sends OpenAI a letter raising concerns; the company says it never heard back.
6. July 10, 2026: Apple files suit naming OpenAI, io Products, Tan and Liu as defendants.

OpenAI finally closed its $6.5 billion acquisition last summer after months of negotiation, a deal that now sits at the center of a federal complaint.

Legal Scholars Call This Uncharted Ground

Camilla Hrdy, a Rutgers Law School professor, has noted that earlier artificial intelligence trade secret fights mostly involved software code, not physical manufacturing, making this case a less familiar shape of dispute for the courts. Mark Lemley, a Stanford Law School professor, has said that if the document theft allegations hold up, OpenAI faces serious exposure despite California’s famously permissive rules on employee mobility.

Apple typically investigates suspected theft internally, sifting company devices and server logs. By suing, Apple opens the door to formal discovery, a process that could expose far more about OpenAI’s hardware operation than either company has said publicly. OpenAI has not yet filed a formal response in court.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does This Lawsuit End the Apple-OpenAI Partnership?

No. Apple’s complaint includes a footnote stating its existing ChatGPT licensing agreement with OpenAI is not at issue in the case and has no connection to the trade secret claims, meaning the commercial partnership around Apple Intelligence keeps running separately from the litigation.

What Is OpenAI’s Secret Hardware Device Supposed To Do?

Reports describe a screenless, voice-driven companion aware of a user’s surroundings rather than a phone replacement. OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, told Axios in January that a device would arrive in the first half of 2026, a window that passed without a launch before this lawsuit was even filed.

Has OpenAI Faced Trade Secret Claims Before This Case?

Yes. A smaller hardware startup sued OpenAI, Ive and chief executive Sam Altman over a trademark dispute involving similar product names, then amended that case in March 2026 to add its own trade secret theft claims against Tan.

Where Does the Case Stand Now?

Apple filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on July 10, 2026. OpenAI has acknowledged the suit publicly but has not filed a formal court response, and no trial date has been set.