OpenAI loses data center chief amid string of executive departures before IPO

Another key executive has left OpenAI as the company presses ahead with its initial public offering.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday (local time), citing multiple sources, that Chris Malone, OpenAI's head of data centers, departed the company last week.

Malone, a former senior engineer at Meta and Google, joined OpenAI in March, shortly after the company unveiled Stargate, its large-scale data center construction plan.

The Stargate project ran into difficulties from the outset, encountering friction over partnerships and planning. As a result, OpenAI was forced to revise its infrastructure strategy, shifting from building its own facilities to leasing capacity from cloud providers.

OpenAI has of late resumed efforts to build its own data centers, but sources said those projects are now being led by others, not Malone.

A reorganization within the infrastructure group also appears to have contributed to his departure. Malone had originally reported directly to President Greg Brockman, but following the restructuring he was placed under Senior Vice President Sachin Katti.

OpenAI's data center operations are expected to be taken over by Uday Rudraraju, chief technology officer for compute capacity, who joined the company after working on Elon Musk's Colossus data center in Memphis, Tennessee, along with Brent Mayo.

Concern is growing in the market over the steady stream of senior executives leaving the company ahead of its IPO.

Fidji Simo, who served as chief executive of the business division and was considered the company's second-in-command, left last month citing treatment for a chronic illness. This month, former Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap and Chief Revenue Officer Dennis Dresser also stepped down.

Brockman shrugged off the departures in a recent interview with CNBC, saying the exits were drawing more scrutiny than they would at other companies simply because OpenAI attracts so much attention. "I don't think it's that unusual in practice," he said.