Apple told a federal judge in San Jose on Monday that forensic analysis of a MacBook used by former engineer Chang Liu shows he ran a confidential Apple circuit schematic in his work at OpenAI, and that he messaged a colleague about destroying evidence after learning Apple was investigating him.

Those claims are in a supplemental brief supporting Apple's motion for expedited discovery in Apple Inc. v. Liu et al., case no. 5:26-cv-07078-EJD, before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila in the Northern District of California. A hearing is set for Oct. 1, 2026, at 9 a.m. They are allegations in a court paper. They are not findings of fact.

Apple sued in July. The defendants include OpenAI, io Products, Liu, and Tang Yew Tan, a former Apple vice president of product design who is now OpenAI's chief hardware officer. Apple is asking the court to speed up document production and depositions, and for a preliminary injunction that would bar OpenAI from using Apple hardware trade secrets while the case proceeds. OpenAI has moved to dismiss.

Liu was a senior system electrical engineer at Apple and left for OpenAI in January, according to coverage of the complaint. Apple alleges he exploited a previously unknown authentication bug to download engineering files after he left. In an August blog post, "Apple is getting this wrong," OpenAI said residual access is a recurring Apple offboarding failure, and that Liu accessed files to help former Apple colleagues who asked him for help.

Apple's Monday brief, quoted in a 9to5Mac report that published the filing, lists four points from an "initial forensic analysis" of the MacBook Liu's lawyers turned over:

  • Liu "not only downloaded a confidential Apple circuit schematic but also used it in his work at OpenAI."
  • Liu "and others at OpenAI were well-aware" of remaining access to Apple third-party cloud storage.
  • After learning of Apple's internal investigation, Liu "sent instructions for destroying evidence to an OpenAI colleague who confirmed she would comply."
  • Liu used a tool at OpenAI "that has the same name as an internal Apple engineering application."

MacRumors, citing the same filing, reported that Liu downloaded the schematic in March, two months after leaving Apple, ran it in LTspice, an electrical-engineering simulator, and described training an AI agent to run the tool and tune parameters. Apple says it learned of the Mac mini work because it later synced, via iCloud, to the MacBook. It now wants that Mac mini. TechCrunch identified the colleague Apple names in the destruction claim as Yu-Ting Peng. Apple argues that feeding a trade secret into an AI agent "may create irreversible and continually propagating uses" of it.

OpenAI's public line has not changed with this brief. In the August post it called the lawsuit "careless, aggressive and oddly personal," said it does not "have, nor want, any of their trade secrets," and published emails it says show Apple's outside counsel first emailed the wrong person at OpenAI after confusing two Asian last names. TechCrunch said it had asked OpenAI for comment on the new forensic claims.

The power in play is a federal court's. Apple wants Judge Davila to force faster discovery and to enjoin a competitor's hardware work on the strength of alleged secrets. OpenAI wants the complaint thrown out before that machinery turns. Apple's initial filing, as reported by TechCrunch, said more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI. That number, if accurate, describes a labor market. It does not, by itself, prove theft.

Sources