Apple's trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI is expanding before it's even reached discovery.
Apple filed suit last week against two former employees — Tang Yew Tan, its ex-VP of Product Design who is now OpenAI's Chief Hardware Officer, and Chang Liu, a former iPhone engineer who joined OpenAI earlier this year. The allegation: both men shared confidential Apple information that OpenAI used to develop its consumer hardware products. OpenAI has denied the claims. Apple has now sent legal preservation letters to roughly 40 additional former employees who landed at OpenAI, instructing them to retain documents and communications that could be relevant to the case. In its original filing, Apple described the two named defendants as "just the tip of the iceberg."
The letters are a standard pre-litigation move, but the scale signals that Apple sees this as a systemic problem rather than two rogue employees. With more than 400 Apple alumni now at OpenAI — roughly 10 percent of whom received these letters — Apple is drawing a wide perimeter around its hardware roadmap at exactly the moment OpenAI is trying to enter the physical device market.
OpenAI's consumer hardware ambitions, which reportedly include a device developed in partnership with former Apple design chief Jony Ive, make the timing awkward at best. Apple is not wrong to watch closely; it is, however, worth noting that aggressive preservation letters can also function as a chilling message to anyone still considering the exit.