The $18B hardware partner suing its rival for IP theft

apple sued openai and hardware chief tang tan, alleging they encouraged poached employees to bring confidential prototypes and supplier details to accelerate openai's hardware division. the lawsuit cites over 400 former apple employees now at openai and specific instances of data theft, such as downloading circuit board presentations. this legal battle pits a former ai partner against apple amid competition in ai consumer devices, signaling aggressive protection of hardware ip.