OpenAI · Wall Street · Stargate · TechCrunch AI
OpenAI sheds a top data center exec as stream of high-profile departures continues
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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’s data center strategy.
Key facts
- Business Insider recently tallied the total 2026 departure count at 13, with several leaving in the last month
- Chris Malone, OpenAI’s former head of data centers, left the company last week, the Wall Street Journal has reported
- 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
- Approximately a month before those departures, the company also lost Fidji Simo, the company’s de facto second-in-command (Simo served as product and business chief and reported directly to CEO Sam
Summary
Chris Malone, OpenAI’s former head of data centers, left the company last week, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Malone joined the company not long after the launch of the Stargate Project, 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. Why is Malone leaving? About Malone’s departure, OpenAI said it had “recently reorganized” its “infrastructure organization to support the scale and pace of our work.” It added: “We have a strong, deeply experienced data center team in place, with clear leadership and the technical expertise to execute our plans.”