Apple is taking OpenAI to court, alleging that ex-Apple engineers stole trade secrets to fuel the AI company's hardware ambitions.
The lawsuit targets OpenAI, IO Products - Jony Ive's hardware startup that OpenAI acquired in 2025 - and two named individuals: Tang Tan, now OpenAI's chief hardware officer, and Chang Liu, who moved from Apple to OpenAI in January. Apple says it identified "a pattern of theft of Apple's trade secrets by OpenAI employees who were formerly at Apple." The complaint does not appear to be a minor skirmish - naming a chief hardware officer signals Apple believes this reached a significant level.
The timing is pointed. OpenAI's deal to absorb IO Products marked its most serious push into physical devices, putting it in direct competition with Apple's core hardware business for the first time. If Apple can show that its own engineering work quietly crossed over into that effort, it could slow or reshape OpenAI's device strategy before it gains traction.
For a company that rarely sues competitors publicly, Apple filing this complaint is itself a statement - one that suggests internal investigations turned up something it couldn't ignore.