OpenAI data center chief joins growing list of executives leaving company
Roughly 13 executives have left OpenAI in 2026.
OpenAI logo displayed on smartphone. By SOPA Images/Getty Images
- Chris Malone, OpenAI’s former head of data centers, left after roughly a year and a half.
- His exit comes as OpenAI prepares for a planned public offering with no confirmed timeline.
- About 13 senior employees have reportedly left OpenAI this year, including leaders in operations, revenue, and applications.
- Nvidia has promised $105 billion in financing for OpenAI’s planned 10-gigawatt data center in Ohio.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
OpenAI’s head of data centers left the company last week, leaving behind more questions than answers.
As AI data centers sprout up across the world, demand for strategists who handle AI infrastructure is more sought after than ever.
This makes Chris Malone’s departure, the former head of data centers at OpenAI, all the more difficult to understand.
Malone joined OpenAI in 2025 and spent roughly a year and a half at the company before leaving with little public explanation.
The head of data centers left OpenAI, along with a horde of other executives, just before its planned public offering, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The departure also comes after Nvidia promised to provide $105 billion in financing for a massive 10-gigawatt data center for OpenAI in Ohio.
Multiple senior executives have left the company this year, with approximately 13 people walking away from OpenAI.
These include operating chief Brad Lightcap, chief of applications Fidji Simo, chief revenue officer Denise Dresser, and a laundry list of other executives from marketing to safety, throwing in the towel, according to Business Insider.
While some have started new projects, others, like Simo, have taken off for different reasons.
Simo took to X to explain why she had decided to stop working full-time at OpenAI and “transition to being a part-time advisor.”
The former chief of applications went on medical leave following a “chronic illness [she’s] lived with for 7 years,” according to Simo’s post on X.
OpenAI loses big players before going public
The ChatGPT maker is set to become a publicly traded company, as OpenAI filed a confidential IPO in early June of this year.
OpenAI has not disclosed the size or terms of the offering, and said a timeline has not yet been determined.
However, in an internal memo, chief financial officer Sarah Friar told employees that next year OpenAI will be a publicly traded company, according to CNBC.
The timings of these resignations might just be a coincidence, but it may not be the best time to lose some important executives.
Particularly following the Hugging Face breach, which inspired doubt in OpenAI’s safety protocols, and Nvidia’s investment into its Ohio data center, which raised questions whether OpenAI can afford it.
