The federal case in Northern District of California names Tang Tan, OpenAI’s Chief Hardware Officer and a former Apple executive, and centers on alleged misuse of Apple hardware information and prototypes.
Apple has filed a 41-page federal lawsuit against OpenAI in the Northern District of California, accusing the company of running a coordinated campaign to obtain trade secrets tied to Apple’s consumer hardware efforts. The complaint, filed on July 10, 2026, names Tang Tan, OpenAI’s Chief Hardware Officer and a former Apple executive, as a central figure and alleges OpenAI solicited confidential information from current and former Apple employees, including internal documents and physical prototypes. Apple also claims some job candidates were asked to bring Apple device parts to interviews and cites internal communications referring to unauthorized access to Apple’s network storage. OpenAI said it takes the lawsuit seriously but believes the allegations lack merit and supports employee mobility and open competition. The case sharpens the break between companies that had partnered beginning in 2024 to integrate OpenAI technology into Apple devices, even as OpenAI’s own hardware ambitions have come into focus.