Chris Malone exits OpenAI amid data center leadership reorganization
Chris Malone, OpenAI’s former head of data centers, left the company last week after joining in March last year. His departure comes as OpenAI reshapes the infrastructure organization responsible for carrying out its data center strategy at a time when AI capacity buildouts are under intense scrutiny.
OpenAI told TechCrunch that it had recently reorganized the unit “to support the scale and pace of our work.” The company said it has a deeply experienced data center team, clear leadership and the technical expertise needed to execute its plans.
Reporting line changes in the infrastructure unit
The Wall Street Journal reported that, as part of the reorganization, Malone stopped reporting directly to OpenAI President Greg Brockman and began reporting to Vice President Sachin Katti, who assumed leadership of the group. OpenAI has not disclosed why Malone left.
Several executives remain involved in the strategy: Uday Ruddarraju leads the data center team, Brent Mayo leads the data center build and delivery programme, and Spas Lazarov leads data center engineering. Malone had previously spent nearly five years at Meta and more than a decade at Google.
Stargate and the wider executive churn
Malone joined OpenAI shortly after the launch of the Stargate Project, described as a $500 million US data center initiative championed by the Trump administration. OpenAI is considered a key partner alongside Oracle, Nvidia, SoftBank and Microsoft, making continuity in data center execution particularly significant for the company.
His exit adds to a broader sequence of senior departures. Business Insider counted 13 executive exits in 2026. Recent changes include the replacement of chief revenue officer Denise Dresser, while former chief operating officer Brad Lightcap also left. In the commercial leadership transition, OpenAI revenue leadership transition reflects how rapidly key operating roles have changed as OpenAI manages its growth.
Fidji Simo stepped down from her product and business leadership role to recover from a chronic illness but remains an adviser. OpenAI also lost head of ethics Chloé Bakalar, and reports said its preparedness team, focused on catastrophic AI-model risks, had been disbanded. Bill Peebles, who led the now-defunct Sora image-generator project, also departed after his project was shut down.
Implications for businesses watching AI infrastructure
Greg Brockman has argued that OpenAI receives unusually close attention, making each departure more visible. Nevertheless, the turnover comes while the company is preparing for an IPO that is reportedly delayed until 2027, amid questions about valuation, profitability and large infrastructure investment.
For businesses dependent on large technology programmes, the immediate operational lesson is to maintain explicit decision rights, delivery ownership and succession plans so that a leadership reorganization does not interrupt critical infrastructure work.