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OpenAI has lost yet another executive, and the timing of this one stands out in particular given this individual oversaw the execution of the company\u2019s data center strategy.<\/p>\n
Chris Malone, OpenAI\u2019s former head of data centers, left the company last week, the Wall Street Journal has reported<\/a>. Malone, who spent nearly five years<\/a> at Meta and more than a decade at Google before that, joined OpenAI in March of last year, making his tenure relatively short.<\/p>\n Malone joined the company not long after the launch of the Stargate Project<\/a>, a $500 million data center initiative championed by the Trump administration that has sought to develop data centers in the U.S. OpenAI, along with Oracle, Nvidia, SoftBank and Microsoft, is considered a key partner in the effort.<\/p>\n Why is Malone leaving? It\u2019s isn\u2019t entirely clear. With the AI infrastructure buildout frenzy in full swing across the industry, data center strategy has become one of the most closely watched roles at any AI lab, which makes turnover in that seat especially surprising. <\/p>\n In a statement to TechCrunch about Malone\u2019s departure, OpenAI said it had \u201crecently reorganized\u201d its \u201cinfrastructure organization to support the scale and pace of our work.\u201d It added: \u201cWe have a strong, deeply experienced data center team in place, with clear leadership and the technical expertise to execute our plans.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of that reorganization, per the WSJ, Malone stopped reporting directly to OpenAI President Greg Brockman and began reporting to OpenAI Vice President Sachin Katti, who took over leadership of the group.<\/p>\n Several other executives are said to be currently overseeing OpenAI\u2019s data center strategy, including Uday Ruddarraju, who leads the company\u2019s data center team; Brent Mayo, who leads the data center build and delivery program; and Spas Lazarov, a veteran of the data center and energy industries, who leads all data center engineering.<\/p>\n Whatever the reason for Malone\u2019s departure, he isn\u2019t alone. His exit adds to a string of more than a dozen executive departures this year. Business Insider recently tallied<\/a> the total 2026 departure count at 13, with several leaving in just the last month. And these aren\u2019t junior employees walking out the door \u2014 they\u2019re some of the company\u2019s most senior seats.<\/p>\n Two weeks ago, the company replaced its chief revenue officer, Denise Dresser, after Dresser had only been with the company for some eight months. Two days prior to Dresser\u2019s announced departure, the company also lost Brad Lightcap<\/a>, one of its longest-serving executives, who spent years as the company\u2019s chief operating officer. Lightcap said he would be \u201cstarting something new\u201d but hasn\u2019t given details on what that new project entails.<\/p>\n Approximately a month before those departures, the company also lost Fidji Simo<\/a>, the company\u2019s de facto second-in-command (Simo served as product and business chief and reported directly to CEO Sam Altman). She stepped down from her position to recover from a \u201cchronic illness<\/a>.\u201d Simo remains with the company in an advisory role.<\/p>\n OpenAI\u2019s safety and ethics teams have seen notable departures, too. In July, the company lost its \u201chead of ethics,\u201d<\/a> Chlo\u00e9 Bakalar, and, last week, it was reported<\/a> that the company had disbanded its preparedness team, a unit dedicated to assessing whether the company\u2019s AI models could result in catastrophic risks.<\/p>\n Other team leaders, like Bill Peebles<\/a>, the former head of OpenAI\u2019s now defunct AI image generator Sora, have left because their projects were shut down. In April, the company also lost<\/a> its chief marketing officer, Kate Rouch, who \u2014 like Simo \u2014 reportedly left for health reasons.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s remaining talent has tried hard to minimize the significance of the ongoing talent flight, with co-founder Greg Brockman recently lamenting<\/a> that the intense \u201cspotlight\u201d on his company means that \u201cevery departure gets scrutinized in a way that it doesn\u2019t otherwise.\u201d <\/p>\n But the churn has naturally raised questions, especially as it preps for an IPO. OpenAI\u2019s public listing, originally expected<\/a> this year, is now reportedly pushed to 2027, and the company is undergoing a kind of reputational vetting that comes with any looming listing. Concerns have arisen that the company may be overvalued<\/a> and that its profitability<\/a> doesn\u2019t match the gargantuan investments being made in the lab. <\/p>\n Suffice it to say, the flood of outgoing executives certainly hasn\u2019t quieted those doubts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n