Apple vs. OpenAI: AI Competition Enters the Hardware Era, the Next Tech War Is No Longer Just About Models. On the surface, Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI is a trade secret dispute, but its deeper significance lies in the fact that AI competition is entering a new phase—shifting from model competition to competition across the entire AI ecosystem, with hardware becoming the next strategic high ground. Over the past three years, the core competition among AI companies has revolved around foundational models: whoever possesses a more powerful large language model, whoever can train more complex AI systems, will be able to seize market leadership...