OpenAI loses data center chief as string of high-profile exits continues

OpenAI's former head of data centers, Chris Malone, departed the company last week, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Malone's tenure was relatively brief — he joined in March of last year after nearly five years at Meta and more than a decade at Google.

His arrival came shortly after the launch of the Stargate Project, a $500 billion data center initiative backed by the Trump administration, in which OpenAI is a key partner alongside Oracle, Nvidia, SoftBank and Microsoft.

The exact reason for Malone's departure remains unclear. In a statement to TechCrunch, OpenAI said it had recently reorganized its infrastructure organization to match the scale and pace of its work, adding that it has a strong, experienced data center team with clear leadership in place. As part of that reorganization, Malone stopped reporting directly to OpenAI President Greg Brockman and began reporting to Vice President Sachin Katti, who took over leadership of the group. Several other executives now oversee data center strategy, including Uday Ruddarraju, Brent Mayo and Spas Lazarov.

Part of a broader pattern

Malone's exit adds to a tally of more than 13 executive departures at OpenAI this year, according to Business Insider. Two weeks ago, the company replaced chief revenue officer Denise Dresser, who had been with OpenAI for only about eight months. Days earlier, longtime chief operating officer Brad Lightcap also left. About a month before that, Fidji Simo, the company's product and business chief, stepped back into an advisory role to recover from a chronic illness.

OpenAI's safety and ethics functions have also seen turnover — head of ethics Chloé Bakalar departed in July, and the company reportedly disbanded its preparedness team, which assessed catastrophic risks from its AI models. The wave of departures comes as OpenAI prepares for a potential public listing, now expected in 2027, amid growing scrutiny over its valuation and profitability.