More than 400 people were poached! Apple couldn't bear it anymore and formally sued OpenAI

Zhixi Compiler | Jiang Yu Editor | Li Shuiqing Zhixi July 11 news, according to Bloomberg, on Friday local time, Apple sued OpenAI and its hardware director Tang Tan in the U.S. Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing OpenAI of systematically obtaining trade secrets of Apple’s unreleased products to promote the research and development of its own AI hardware. ▲Source: Tang Tan LinkedIn Apple stated in the complaint that OpenAI had encouraged Apple employees to provide confidential materials such as parts, design drawings, engineering demonstration documents, technical specifications and project data during job interviews and resignations. Apple requires OpenAI to stop relevant activities, destroy proprietary materials it holds, and redesign unreleased products that may use Apple technology. It also applies for a jury to hear the case. Before this lawsuit occurred, OpenAI had successively recruited many core Apple hardware figures. In May 2025, OpenAI announced the acquisition of io Products, an AI hardware company co-founded by former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive, Apple design veteran Evans Hankey, and former Apple vice president of product design Tang Tan, for US$6.5 billion (approximately RMB 44.05 billion). After the acquisition was completed, Ive was responsible for related product design, Hanji joined the OpenAI hardware project, and Tang Tan served as the chief hardware officer of OpenAI. Last month, Paul Meade, the vice president who led Apple’s Vision Pro headset and was responsible for the research and development of AI smart glasses, switched to the OpenAI hardware team. After several rounds of poaching and acquisitions, OpenAI has gathered Apple's design and hardware talents on iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods, Vision Pro and other products, and established a hardware team with the color of "small iPhone team". However, Ive, Hankey and Meade are not named as defendants in the lawsuit. Apple this time focuses its attention on ZXQKEEP10 ZXQ chief hardware