Apple sues OpenAI for allegedly stealing hardware secrets
Apple alleges that it has uncovered a ‘pattern of theft’ from OpenAI employees who formerly worked at Apple.
by Jay Peters
Jul 10, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Jay Peters is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
Apple has sued OpenAI, alleging that former employees that now work for the AI company have stolen Apple’s trade secrets “for the benefit of OpenAI.” In its complaint, Apple alleges that it has uncovered “a pattern of theft of Apple’s trade secrets by OpenAI employees who were formerly at Apple,” and it names IO Products (Jony Ive’s hardware startup that OpenAI bought in 2025), Tang Tan (OpenAI’s chief hardware officer), and Chang Liu (who joined OpenAI from Apple in January) as defendants.
An Apple spokesperson shared this statement with 9to5Mac:
At...
Copyright of this story solely belongs to theverge.com. To see the full text click HERE
