Apple filed a The case Friday on allegations of trade secret theft and breach of contract against OpenAI.

The iPhone maker alleges that the misconduct, which it says shows a pattern of theft from OpenAI employees who previously worked at Apple, was directed by OpenAI’s senior leadership, including Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Tan of using Apple’s secret project code names during OpenAI’s hiring process, bringing Apple hardware components to his interviews with job candidates, coaching departing Apple employees on how to circumvent the company’s security procedures, and leaking details about the company’s products.

Prior to joining OpenAI, Tan spent 24 years at Apple, most recently as VP of Product Design for iPhone and Apple Watch.

The allegations come as OpenAI is rumored to be developing its first hardware product, which will likely compete with the iPhone. In April, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that the device could be a smartphone that would rely on AI agents rather than apps. If true, it would be one of the biggest threats to Apple’s core hardware business to date.

Former Apple lead designer Jony Ive’s device startup io was acquired by OpenAI last year in a $6.5 billion deal to help the AI ​​company with its hardware ambitions. While io’s name was in the filing, Ive’s was not.

Tan isn’t the only OpenAI employee cited in the new complaint. Apple has also alleged this. Chang Liu, who spent eight years at Apple as a senior systems electrical engineer, failed to return an Apple-issued laptop after leaving the company for OpenAI in 2026, and used the computer to download confidential Apple technical documents.

Apple says Complaint that the stolen documents contained information about unannounced technologies, features, and products, including technical specifications, engineering presentations, and proprietary project data;

Liu is also accused in the lawsuit of sharing confidential Apple information with other Apple employees applying for jobs at OpenAI, advising at least one of them on what to read before their interview.

Apple sent a letter to OpenAI in February to raise its concerns, and received no response, the company said in the complaint.

It alleges that the former employees’ behavior is part of OpenAI’s strategy to extract confidential Apple information, including bringing designs and prototypes to Apple employees in their interviews, and answering questions about things like component and vendor selection processes.

Apple says its ongoing investigation has revealed that OpenAI and its partners have also used Apple’s confidential information while the AI ​​model maker develops its own hardware products. For example, the filing cites a proprietary metal finishing technique used by OpenAI when it allegedly misled a partner into believing it had Apple’s permission to do so.

Like many tech companies, Apple typically investigates potential trade secret theft or other inappropriate activity by analyzing communications on company-owned devices and reading its server logs. By taking the case to court, Apple will have the opportunity to learn more about the extent of the alleged operation through the legal discovery process.

Apple is asking the court to stop OpenAI from using or disclosing its trade secrets, demanding that the company return any confidential Apple material and preserve evidence related to the case.

“This is the tip of the iceberg. Apple does not have visibility into what is going on behind closed doors at OpenAI, where such misconduct is normalized and exemplified by leadership,” the filing said. “As a natural consequence, OpenAI’s fledgling hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten by its illicit reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”

In a prepared statement, Apple also said:

“At Apple, our teams are constantly developing innovative technologies to create the best products and services in the world, and the protection of their work and intellectual property is something we take very seriously. Recently, significant evidence has come to light showing that OpenAI employees misappropriated Apple’s confidential and confidential information that our team will always work on for our unreleased technologies and products, and our teams will be hard at work. Innovations, and we are taking all appropriate steps to do so.

OpenAI was approached for comment.

Filing is available. Hereor you can read it below.

This story is in development and will be updated, and originally published at 1:32pm PT.