Apple has sued OpenAI, and the details of the complaint make it one of the most significant legal confrontations in the tech industry this year. Filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the lawsuit accuses OpenAI, its hardware subsidiary io Products, and two former Apple employees of stealing confidential trade secrets to accelerate OpenAI’s AI hardware ambitions.
The two individuals named alongside OpenAI are Tang Tan, OpenAI’s current Chief Hardware Officer who spent more than two decades at Apple, and Chang Liu, a former Apple engineer now working at OpenAI. Apple’s allegations against them are specific and serious. The company claims Chang Liu continued accessing Apple’s internal systems after leaving, copying sensitive engineering documents related to unreleased products. Tang Tan is accused of transferring confidential supplier information and allegedly encouraging Apple employees interviewing at OpenAI to bring proprietary hardware details or even physical components with them.
The timing connects directly to OpenAI’s $6.5 billion acquisition of io Products in 2025 the AI hardware startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and Tang Tan himself. Apple argues that confidential information was funneled into that hardware effort, giving OpenAI an unfair advantage built on Apple’s own proprietary research.
What makes this particularly striking is the prior relationship between the two companies. Apple and OpenAI were partners as recently as last year through the integration of ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence. The lawsuit signals that whatever cooperative relationship existed has broken down entirely.
OpenAI is denying everything, stating it develops its products independently and does not rely on competitors’ trade secrets. The company says it will defend itself in court.
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