‘Not Afraid Of Apple,’ Says OpenAI CEO Sam Altman After Trade Secret Lawsuit

• Apple’s suit also named Tang Tan, a 25-year Apple veteran who joined OpenAI as its chief hardware officer last year.
• Apple alleged that OpenAI encouraged Apple employees to share confidential information as part of the AI company's efforts to develop its own suite of devices.
• Investors are closely watching developments at OpenAI as it moves toward a public listing.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he is not “afraid of Apple” after the iPhone maker sued his company over alleged trade secret theft, a major development in the tech industry that could have implications for the AI startup’s IPO plans.

“I am not afraid of apple, but i have tremendous respect for them. s-tier company,” Altman wrote on X on Saturday, alluding to the Japanese-style ranking of exceptional or best-in-class items.

In a suit filed Friday, Apple alleged that OpenAI encouraged Apple employees to share information, components, drawings, and other materials related to upcoming products — as part of the AI company's efforts to develop its own suite of devices.

The suit also named Tang Tan, the chief hardware officer at OpenAI. Tan is a 25-year Apple veteran and was most recently its vice president for iPhone and Apple Watch product design, acoustics, materials, and Interconnects design, according to his LinkedIn.

After leaving Apple in 2024, he joined famed Apple designer Jony Ive's startup LoveFrom. Both joined OpenAI last year when OpenAI bought out LoveFrom.

The lawsuit marks a dramatic turn for two companies that were close partners. OpenAI has powered Apple Intelligence and Siri, but ties between the two have frayed over the past year.

In a statement, OpenAI said it has “no interest in other companies’ trade secrets… We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.” 

Altman Feuds With Musk Again

Interestingly, Altman simultaneously clashed with longtime foe Elon Musk on X. Altman accused the SpaceX and Tesla founder on Saturday of wooing public market investors with unproven claims about space data centers after Musk said Altman was “scamming to a whole new level” in reference to the Apple lawsuit.

“After stealing an open source AI charity, you then stole all of Apple’s phone technology! Wow,’ Musk wrote on X. 

OpenAI IPO Watch

Investors are closely watching developments at OpenAI as it moves toward a public listing, setting up a potential IPO showdown with chief rival Anthropic. Both companies confidentially filed IPO paperwork with regulators last month, before reports emerged that OpenAI may delay its listing until next year rather than the previously expected fourth-quarter timeline.

OpenAI now broadly trails Anthropic, based on the most recently disclosed numbers. In April, Anthropic said it tripled its annual revenue run rate to $30 billion, surpassing OpenAI’s ARR of about $24 billion. Anthropic is valued at $1.08 trillion, compared to OpenAI’s private market valuation of $868.3B, according to data from Nasdaq Private Market.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment was ‘bearish’ for AAPL and ANTHZZX, and ‘extremely bullish’ for OPEAZZX.

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