Apple Calls OpenAI Hardware Business ‘Rotten to Its Core’ in Trade Secret Theft Court

Apple is suing OpenAI and two of its former employees who work at the AI ​​company, for stealing its trade secrets. In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Friday, Apple alleges misconduct by its former partner, describing its hardware business as “rotten to death.”

The lawsuit also names io Products, a hardware startup led by Jony Ive that was acquired by OpenAI last year, as part of the theft of trade secrets. It did not mention Ive by name, but described the organization as involved in a “consolidated pattern of misconduct at the institutional level” within OpenAI.

The filing also names Chang Liu, a former senior systems electronics engineer at Apple, and Tang Yew Tan, a former Apple VP who is now OpenAI’s Chief Platform Officer. Apple says both Liu and Tan shared trade secrets with OpenAI. Liu, according to Apple’s lawyers, “secretly accessed and downloaded a large number of files related to Apple’s confidential hardware, including extensive, detailed information on unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications, and proprietary project data.”

Apple also says that Tan “has instructed job seekers who still work for Apple to bring ‘real parts’ from Apple to their interviews for ‘show and tell’ sessions where he and his team at OpenAI can get some of Apple’s confidential information.” In all, Apple says more than 400 of its former employees have taken jobs at OpenAI and that the company’s interview process was designed to “attempt to solicit Apple’s confidential information.”

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations. The company “never responded” when Apple raised its concerns, the lawsuit says. Drew Pusateri, OpenAI’s director of strategic communications, tweeted that the company “doesn’t care about other companies’ trade secrets” regarding the suit.

Our statement in response to this case: We are not interested in the trade secrets of other companies. We are focused on creating new technologies that empower people everywhere.

— Drew Pusateri (@drewpusateri) July 10, 2026

In the filing, Apple says it may not be aware of the full extent of OpenAI’s misconduct. “This much is clear, however: at all levels, from members of its technical staff to its chief hardware officer, and in collaboration with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” it said. “As a natural consequence, OpenAI’s fledgling hardware business now rests on a very fragile foundation, which has been severely rotted by its illegal reliance on unauthorized trade secrets.”

The case comes as Apple is still working with OpenAI for Apple Intelligence. In a footnote, Apple says its existing agreement, which allows the iPhone maker to integrate chatGPT into its devices, is “not at issue here” and that its alleged privacy theft is “unrelated” to the program.

Update, July 10, 7:30PM ET: This story was updated after publication to include public comments from Drew Pusateri, OpenAI’s director of strategic communications.