Apple Sues OpenAI: Hardware Ambitions and Trade Secret War Behind 400 Employee Exodus
On July 10, 2026, Apple filed a 41-page complaint against OpenAI alleging systematic trade secret theft. Over 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI. Two former employees were named—one downloaded 1,000+ pages of confidential hardware files, another asked job candidates to bring Apple product parts to interviews. The lawsuit comes as OpenAI targets a $1 trillion IPO, potentially disrupting its plan to ship 100 million AI hardware units.