Apple Sues OpenAI, Says It Stole the Whole Hardware Playbook

The Telegram rumor is real: Apple filed suit against OpenAI in federal court in Northern California on July 10, alleging trade secret theft "at every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer."

Apple's smoking guns are two ex-employees. Tang Tan — 24 years at Apple, most recently VP of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch, now OpenAI's hardware chief — allegedly told Apple staffers interviewing at OpenAI to spill secrets during the process. And Chang Liu, an eight-year Apple electrical engineer, allegedly never returned his Apple laptop and used it to download confidential technical docs before jumping ship.

The target: OpenAI's upcoming AI hardware, born from its $6.4B acquisition of Jony Ive's io Products. The two were partners in 2024, when ChatGPT landed inside iOS. Relations froze once OpenAI announced hardware ambitions. OpenAI's reply: "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets."

Why it matters: The iPhone-era design brain trust is now building OpenAI's device — and Apple wants a court to decide whose IP that really is.