For people who didn’t read the linked lawsuit (and/or can’t deal with Scribd), it looks like the reason Apple is suing Rivos is because this pattern of behavior was more widespread. Apple says it lost 40 engineers to Rivos, and it seems like it was more than the two named here in the lawsuit who were up to shady business. Apple alleges that several, if not most, of the Rivos poached engineers downloaded Signal to discuss Rivos related business, including at least one message sent via iMessage from one to another not to discuss Rivos over iMessage. Apple alleges that many of them suspiciously cleared web browser history (one after having searched for online legal advice). It seems like the pattern of behavior of the two named defendants was common to most, if not all, of the engineers Rivos poached, which is why Apple alleges Rivos was actively engaged in the theft of trade secrets. The two named defendants seem to be the most egregious cases, the ones that Apple feels are a slam dunk. (They’re also the two who were the worst at covering their tracks. Skilled at processor design, perhaps, but kind of lacking in common sense about computers from a usage perspective.) If Apple’s allegations are true*, it definitely paints a picture of Rivos engaging in conspiracy to exfiltrate a wealth of design documents that could be used to get their own system online. (Apple notes that much of the data would be very useful for that purpose, especially for other reduced instruction set architectures.)
* And really, I have no reason to doubt it. The idea that a stealth mode startup would be engaged in such a conspiracy isn’t particularly weird, especially if the firm feels like it needs a breakthrough to get the next round of VC funding. And having a RISC-V chip with Apple Silicon performance would be a breakthrough that would certainly net them considerable amounts of funding. And given the current bubble state we’re in, malicious behavior (like pump and dumps or ginned up prospectuses) is distressingly common at bubble peak, the goal becomes snatching up as much money as one can (instead of delivering a sustainable business model).
Now, I have no evidence of Rivos specifically engaging in investment fraud, but the whole idea of trying to get information that will lead to them having an unusually fast time to market (or at least a dramatic prototype to show off) just makes me think of the get rich quick mentality that’s driving a lot of crypto and fintech startups. (For what it’s worth, it seems like, every other month, I see an ad on the subway for yet another new crypto startup, yet another fintech providing retail banking, and yet another fintech providing retail investing. Never mind that, with all the existing fintechs engaged in retail banking and investing, there’s serious competition in those fields, and these guys all seem to be delivering largely undifferentiated products [and never mind that the big financial firms are already players in app based retail banking and app based/online retail investing].)