OpenAI has lost one of its top data center executives, Chris Malone, who departed last week, according to the Wall Street Journal. Malone, who had been with the company for just over a year, oversaw the execution of OpenAI’s data center strategy. His departure adds to a growing list of high-profile exits at the company, with more than a dozen executives leaving this year. Malone joined OpenAI not long after the launch of the Stargate Project, a $500 million data center initiative backed by the Trump administration. OpenAI, along with Oracle, Nvidia, SoftBank, and Microsoft, is considered a key partner in the effort. OpenAI said it had recently reorganized its infrastructure organization to support the scale and pace of its work. The company added that it now has a strong, deeply experienced data center team in place, with clear leadership and technical expertise to execute its plans. As part of the 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 are said to be overseeing OpenAI’s data center strategy, including Uday Ruddarraju, Brent Mayo, and Spas Lazarov. Malone’s exit is part of a broader trend of executive turnover at OpenAI, with several other senior leaders leaving in recent months. The company has also lost key figures in its safety and ethics teams, including its head of ethics, Chloé Bakalar, and its preparedness team, which was disbanded last week. The ongoing exodus of talent has raised questions about the company’s stability, especially as it prepares for an IPO now expected in 2027. OpenAI’s public listing, originally expected 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 and that its profitability doesn’t match the gargantuan investments being made in the lab. Suffice it to say, the flood of outgoing executives certainly hasn’t quieted those doubts.

Source: techcrunch