Agents arrested Chen a mere day before he was supposed to fly to China, according to a criminal complaint.

Apple said in a statement that it took the protection of its technology "very seriously" and was cooperating with law enforcement, although it pointed all questions to the FBI. The agency declined to comment.

It's unclear if you'll see more incidents like this when Apple has been cutting jobs at its driverless vehicle project. However, two attempted thefts in a short space of time is bound to be concerning for both Apple and the tech industry as a whole. The US is already on guard against attempts to take its intellectual property, and this suggests some of its defensiveness might be well-founded.