Apple sued OpenAI after financial markets closed Friday, alleging theft of trade secrets for ChatGPT hardware. The lawsuit names two former Apple employees — Chang Liu and Tang Tan, former vice president for product design, iPhone and Apple Watch — as well as OpenAI and its recently-acquired firm, io Products, alleging “trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract.” Jony Ive, who sold io Products to OpenAI, is not named. Apple claims that before leaving, Tan met with OpenAI or its collaborators, emailed himself information about suppliers and internal summaries, used confidential information like internal project code names when interviewing former Apple staffers, asked candidates to bring actual parts from Apple to interviews, and instructed new hires on how to avoid scrutiny when leaving. The lawsuit also alleges that after quitting Apple for OpenAI in January 2026, Chang Liu kept an Apple-issued notebook and used it to access confidential data on Apple’s private network while at OpenAI, texting a friend, “LOL, I found out I can access the [server], so funny.” Apple says Liu downloaded more than 1,000 pages of data, including “confidential technical presentations, spreadsheets, PDFs, and written work product,” and that he was simultaneously coaching a current Apple employee named Alyssa Peng on how to copy files. OpenAI issued a statement: “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”