OpenAI’s head of data centres, Chris Malone, has left the artificial intelligence company as it reorganises its infrastructure leadership while pursuing an expanding global computing strategy.
Malone left OpenAI last week after joining the company in March 2025. Before OpenAI, he spent nearly five years at Meta and more than a decade at Google, where his work included data centre infrastructure and hardware research and development.
His departure comes at a significant stage for OpenAI’s infrastructure plans, as access to computing capacity and data centres becomes increasingly important to the development and operation of large-scale AI models.
OpenAI confirmed Malone’s departure and said it had reorganised its infrastructure organisation earlier this year to support the scale and pace of its operations. The company said it continues to have an experienced data centre team with defined leadership and technical capabilities to execute its infrastructure plans.
As part of the restructuring, Malone had stopped reporting directly to OpenAI President Greg Brockman and instead reported to Vice President Sachin Katti, according to TechCrunch, citing reporting from The Wall Street Journal.
Several executives are now overseeing different parts of OpenAI’s data centre operations. These include Uday Ruddarraju, who leads the data centre team, Brent Mayo, who oversees data centre build and delivery, and Spas Lazarov, who leads data centre engineering.
Malone joined OpenAI shortly after the announcement of Stargate, the large-scale AI infrastructure initiative involving OpenAI and technology partners including Oracle, SoftBank and Nvidia. His appointment came as OpenAI was increasing its focus on securing the computing infrastructure required for its growing portfolio of AI products.
His exit also comes amid a series of leadership changes at the ChatGPT maker during 2026. Brad Lightcap, one of OpenAI’s longest-serving executives, recently announced plans to leave to pursue a new project. Fidji Simo stepped down from her operating role after taking medical leave and remains an adviser to the company. Former product chief Kevin Weil also departed earlier this year.
OpenAI has also recently changed leadership in its commercial operations. Earlier this month, the company appointed Dali Rajic as Chief Revenue Officer, succeeding Denise Dresser.
The infrastructure reorganisation comes as OpenAI continues to expand the physical computing capacity supporting its AI systems. The company is reportedly revisiting data centre projects that involve leasing entire facilities, with other executives now leading those initiatives following Malone’s departure.
Malone’s exit therefore places additional attention on OpenAI’s infrastructure leadership as the company balances rapid AI development with the substantial computing, energy and data centre capacity required to support its models and services.
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