Apple Files New Evidence of Circuit Schematic Theft in OpenAI Suit

Apple has escalated its trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI with a fresh evidence filing accusing former employee Chang Liu of using a confidential Apple circuit schematic in his work for the AI company. The filing, submitted in late August 2026, deepens a legal fight over hardware technology Apple says was taken without authorization.

Liu's legal counsel turned over his old Apple work laptop for forensic review as part of the case. Apple's filing claims the device shows Liu retained and used proprietary schematic data after he left the company to join OpenAI.

OpenAI has pushed back on the characterization. The company says Liu only accessed the files after his departure from Apple, and only to help former colleagues wrap up loose ends, not for any product work. OpenAI has also pointed to Apple's own IT and system-management practices as the reason the access was possible at all.

Apple's filing adds a more serious allegation: that OpenAI engineer Yu-Ting Peng helped Liu destroy evidence once he learned in June 2026 that Apple's internal investigation was closing in. Apple further alleges that OpenAI was aware Liu had access to its confidential data, a claim that, if substantiated, would move the case beyond one rogue employee and toward institutional knowledge at OpenAI.

Numbers behind the dispute

Beyond the schematic allegation, Apple's filing states that more than 400 former Apple employees currently work at OpenAI, a detail the company appears to be using to frame a broader pattern of technical migration rather than an isolated incident.

What Apple is asking for

Apple is requesting a preliminary injunction that would bar OpenAI from developing hardware based on Apple's technology for the duration of the litigation. It has also asked the court for expedited discovery, a move typically used when a party wants to lock down evidence and depositions quickly before it can be altered or lost.

If granted, the injunction could directly affect OpenAI's hardware ambitions, an area the company has been investing in as it looks beyond software products. The outcome will hinge on whether Apple can show Liu's laptop and the alleged evidence-destruction episode tie back to material actually used in OpenAI's designs, rather than general engineering know-how Liu carried in his own experience.

No court ruling on the injunction or discovery requests has been reported yet. Both companies' filings so far describe the same core events, Liu's laptop, the June 2026 investigation, the alleged schematic, without factual contradiction between the sources reviewed.