A GE Vernova-manufactured gas turbine manufactured at the on-site natural gas plant under construction during a media tour of the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, USA, Wednesday, September 24, 2025.
Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images
OpenAIdata center director Chris Malone has left the company, CNBC has confirmed, adding to a recent wave of executive departures at the Artificial Intelligence Institute.
Mr. Malone joined OpenAI in March 2025 after previously working in data center infrastructure as a “distinguished engineer” at OpenAI and OpenAI. meta and googleaccording to his LinkedIn. He helped oversee OpenAI’s ambitious infrastructure plans, including the goal of spending approximately $600 billion on computing by 2030.
“We recently reorganized our infrastructure organization to support the scale and pace of our business,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement. “We have a strong and experienced data center team in place with clear leadership and technical expertise to execute our plan.”
Malone’s departure comes at a particularly tense time for U.S. AI infrastructure, where backlash against data centers is rapidly growing. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) warned last week that data centers have become a “key issue” throughout the midterm election period, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Malone’s departure.
Earlier this month, OpenAI’s head of revenue, Dennis Dresser, abruptly announced he was leaving the company after less than a year on the job. Her departure comes days after fellow longtime executive Brad Lightcap said he was ending his eight years at OpenAI to “start something new.”
In addition to Dresser and Lightcap, Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s head of product and business, also announced last month that he would be stepping down from his role to focus on chronic disease management. Four other executives retired in April.
The string of executive departures has surprised some investors, especially as the company works to justify its $852 billion valuation ahead of what is expected to be a major IPO. OpenAI confidentially filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, but has not officially announced when it plans to debut. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told employees at an all-hands meeting this month that OpenAI “will become a publicly traded company in 2027.”
OpenAI President Greg Brockman dismissed concerns about executive changes last week, telling CNBC in an interview that he doesn’t think the wave of exits is “actually all that unusual.”
“Really, I think the difference between OpenAI and other organizations is that we’re so high profile that any departures are scrutinized differently than other organizations,” Brockman said.
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