Silicon Valley giants turn against each other! Apple sues OpenAI for stealing trade secrets, demands destruction of confidential materials and redesign of AI hardware.
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Apple Inc. has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the AI startup and its head of hardware of systematically stealing trade secrets, marking a complete rupture in the relationship between the two former partners.
Apple filed the lawsuit on Friday in the Federal Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that OpenAI deliberately orchestrated Apple employees to divulge information, components, drawings, and other materials related to unreleased products to support its own hardware development plans.
The complaint also names OpenAI Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan—formerly Apple’s VP of Product Design who led the development of core hardware such as the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods.
Apple demands that OpenAI immediately cease the relevant conduct, destroy all proprietary materials involved, and redesign upcoming products to ensure they do not contain any Apple technology.
This lawsuit will profoundly impact the direction of cooperation between the two companies. OpenAI has long provided key technical support for Apple’s Apple Intelligence platform and Siri voice assistant, and their partnership was officially announced two years ago at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
Now, tensions continue to escalate—from mass employee departures to intellectual property disputes—the most high-profile AI hardware race in Silicon Valley is turning into a direct legal confrontation.
Core Allegation: Organized Theft of Trade Secrets
Apple’s complaint uses strong language, accusing OpenAI from technical staff to the chief hardware officer:
"At all levels, working with commercial partners, they continuously steal Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information."
Apple further states, "OpenAI’s fledgling hardware business is thus built on the most fragile foundation, its core corrupted by the illegal misappropriation of trade secrets."
The complaint specifically accuses Tang Tan of encouraging Apple employees during recruitment interviews to provide information on unreleased products, and also names former iPhone hardware engineer Chang Liu.
According to the allegation, Liu joined OpenAI in January this year. Within weeks, he "secretly accessed and downloaded dozens of Apple confidential hardware files, including detailed unreleased product information, engineering presentations, technical specifications, and proprietary project data."
Apple also revealed a more serious accusation: OpenAI is alleged to have systematically instructed departing employees on how to bypass the company’s security protocols.
The complaint states that OpenAI advised departing employees not to disclose their next employer’s name and taught them how to avoid triggering the "troublesome direct escort" process—that is, being immediately escorted out of the company—thereby allowing continued access to Apple’s confidential information and trade secrets during the standard two-week notice period.
Apple says it previously tried to resolve the dispute out of court, requesting OpenAI to stop the behavior and destroy the materials involved, but received no response and was ultimately forced to pursue legal action.
Tang Tan: From Apple Design Executive to OpenAI Core Figure
Tang Tan is one of the key defendants in this case, and his career path reflects the severity of Apple’s talent drain.
He left Apple in 2024 and co-founded AI hardware startup io Products with former Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive and veteran designer Evans Hankey.
OpenAI then acquired the company for $6.5 billion last year, making Tang Tan OpenAI’s Chief Hardware Officer. Notably, Ive and Hankey were not named as defendants in this case.
The wave of Apple employees moving to OpenAI does not end there. The complaint shows that over 400 former Apple employees are now working at OpenAI. Just last month, Apple’s top manager in charge of smart glasses also announced his departure to join OpenAI, further intensifying Apple’s talent anxiety.
Collapse of Partnership: From Strategic Allies to Courtroom Rivals
The relationship between Apple and OpenAI was once considered Silicon Valley’s most iconic AI strategic alliance. At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference two years ago, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman attended in person, and Apple’s software head Craig Federighi publicly praised the startup as a "pioneer and market leader" in the AI field.
The partnership covered multiple levels: users could invoke ChatGPT responses directly in Siri, generate text and analyze surrounding objects via iPhone’s "Visual Intelligence" feature; Apple later integrated ChatGPT into its Image Playground creative app, supporting analysis of screen content.
However, this relationship has now deteriorated sharply. OpenAI reportedly considered legal action against Apple, believing the partnership did not deliver expected commercial returns and even assessed the possibility of sending a breach notice to Apple.
Now, the situation has completely reversed. As the two companies bet on AI hardware as the next frontier, tech giants like Apple, OpenAI, and Meta are competing for what is broadly seen as the entry point to the "post-smartphone era."
Apple is accelerating its deployment of new device forms such as smart glasses, smart pendants, and camera-equipped AirPods, while OpenAI's hardware ambitions have become the direct trigger for this legal battle.
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