Overview
- OpenAI confirmed Tuesday that Chris Malone, who joined in March 2025 to run data center operations, has left the company.
- The company said it recently reorganized its infrastructure group and moved Malone’s reporting line under VP Sachin Katti before his exit.
- Responsibility for data center strategy is now split among leaders including Uday Ruddarraju for operations, Brent Mayo for build and delivery, and Spas Lazarov for engineering.
- Malone’s exit is one of more than a dozen senior departures at OpenAI in 2026 as the company prepares a confidential IPO filing it made in June and prepares for a planned 2027 public listing.
- The leadership change follows a strategic pivot away from exclusive reliance on the Stargate partner-built program toward greater leasing of cloud capacity, a shift that raises execution risks given OpenAI’s massive compute plans and growing local political resistance to data center buildouts.