Tech stocks today: John Ternus becomes Apple CEO as legal battle with OpenAI escalates

Tech stocks were under heavy pressure on Tuesday as rising bond yields weighed on growth assets and chip stocks slid.It's a momentous day for Apple (AAPL) as former senior vice president of hardware engineering John Ternus becomes CEO, succeeding Tim Cook after Cook’s 15 years in the top spot.Cook is handing Ternus a “very healthy company,” Maxim Group analyst Tom Forte told Yahoo Finance, but the road could become more challenging for Ternus and Apple in the coming years. Forte estimated that Wall Street would give Ternus a six- to 12-month grace period to find his footing.Among Ternus’s first tests will be an escalating legal battle between Apple and OpenAI. Apple accused the AI startup of stealing trade secrets as it looks to build a competing AI device for its ChatGPT model. On Monday, Apple also alleged that OpenAI was destroying evidence in the case, Bloomberg reported.In a separate filing on Monday, OpenAI sought to block Apple’s preliminary injunction request to prevent OpenAI from using potential trade secrets, calling the lawsuit “baseless” and an attempt to forestall the AI company from building a device that could unseat the iPhone. "This dispute is a mess of Apple's own making, and it is trying to blame everyone else," OpenAI said in the filing.