Apple's former vice president of product design, Tang Tan, is at the center of two trade secret theft lawsuits against OpenAI. Here's who he is, how he got started, and why he is crucial to OpenAI's future.
On July 10, Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that two former Apple employees stole its intellectual property. The trade secrets would allegedly be used by OpenAI's hardware teams to produce new products, including a planned AI device.
One name stands out prominently in the affair. Tang Tan is a major figure, partly because of his position at Apple and at OpenAI, and from his alleged activities that prompted the lawsuit.
This is the backstory of a man who, if the lawsuit is to be believed, has caused a potentially very costly problem for OpenAI.
Born in Malaysia, Tang Tan's education first took place at the prestigious Imperial College London, completing his undergraduate studies. In an October 2025 MIT talk, Tan admits that he initially considered working in a shipyard at the time.
While that could've led to a wildly different career, he instead went to MIT and earned his master's in mechanical engineering in 1999. While he focused largely on industry automation for his master's, he shifted to working on semiconductors before graduation.
The move led to an interview with Apple as a graduate, and he stood out by telling interviewers that he wanted to become a project leader. He was ultimately hired in 1999.
He was given his chance to lead two years into his tenure at Apple, appointed by hardware executive Dan Riccio. His success in the roll led to him working across the company on various projects in his early years.
Tan refers to the time as being the "young kid who got thrown into all these projects during firefighting." He was employed to fix problems in projects, rather than to lead them.
Tan is able to claim a hand in the development of multiple major products at Apple throughout his career.
One early example was in the early 2000s, when he worked on the team developing the iPod. The team found a 1.8-inch Toshiba hard drive that could store up to 100 times more songs than other devices on the market, making it a must-have in a new music player.
The team went on to devise the first iPod design.
An early iPod design that Tan had a hand in making.
History would repeat itself with the iPhone, with Tan involved in leading the team to its creation. He eventually became the vice president of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch at the company, further leading the design teams to make new versions of the wearable, smartphone, and even AirPods.
His job titles have included Senior Product Designer for iPod for three years, Manager for Wireless Product Design, for a year, and Senior Manager then Director of iPhone Product Design for six years in total. He became Senior Director of iPhone and Apple Watch Product Design for five years.
Eventually, in March 2017, he became Vice President of iPhone and Apple Watch Product Design, and stayed in the role for seven years.
His name is attached to multiple patents, including a 2010 one for the steel bezel design of the iPhone. Others have included speaker assemblies, touch screen designs, ejectable SIM card assemblies, and even anodizing techniques.
Despite his role and apparent important position, little is really known about Tan at this time. He resided in a place in the corporate ladder where he had influence, but was not picked to be in the limelight, unlike other executives with similar seniority and positioning within the company.
A steel bezel design patent image connected to Tan
At the end of his tenure, Tan was working directly under John Ternus, then the senior vice president of hardware engineering. Ternus will become the CEO of Apple in the fall.
Tan stayed at Apple until February 2024, with news of the departure leaking two months prior. Apple quickly shifted Tan's duties to others in the transition, passing control of iPhone and Apple Watch designs to colleagues Richard Dinh and Kate Bergeron.
It didn't take long for the rumor mill to work out where Tan was headed after Apple. In December 2023, before he had left Cupertino, it was revealed that he was heading to work at a new startup called IO Products.
This move wasn't one where he joined a small, typical startup. IO turned out to be a collaboration between former Apple design chief Jony Ive and AI giant OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman, with the intention of designing hardware for OpenAI to manufacture and sell.
Tan was put in charge of hardware engineering for the project. This was ideal for the project, considering Tan's development history.
A few years later, IO Products was sold to OpenAI in a deal valued at close to $6.5 billion in May 2025. The 55 employees at IO joined OpenAI, including Tan.
As part of that purchase, Tan became the Chief Hardware Officer at OpenAI.
Jony Ive and Sam Altman, who work with Tan at IO – Image Credit: OpenAI
This role puts Tan at the top of the tree when it comes to OpenAI's rumored hardware devices, alongside Ive and Altman. However, once again, the external communications about the project chiefly concern Ive's thoughts and opinions, with Tan staying in the background.
