Another Top Executive Departs OpenAI Even As The Company Continues Marching Toward Its Massive IPO

OpenAI's data center head, Chris Malone, is out after just 18 months, becoming the latest high-level executive to depart the company in recent weeks.

Before joining OpenAI in March 2025, Malone worked as an engineer for Meta. Before, he was at Google for 12 years, according to his Linkedin page.

"We recently reorganized our infrastructure organization to support the scale and pace of our work," an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC. "We have a strong, deeply experienced data center team in place, with clear leadership and the technical expertise to execute our plans."

Malone had been leading OpenAI's aggressive buildout of it's infrastructure. The company wants to spend $600 billion by 2030. Much of that spend will be on data centers need to power the continued development of AI.

Data centers have become a political issue and a flashpoint across the country. Residents have voiced opposition to data centers, citing various concerns including worries about energy consumption, water usage, and noise.

Before Malone, Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser and Brad Lightcap, an eight-year OpenAI veteran and longtime colleague of CEO Sam Altman, both left the company earlier this month.

Dresser, a longtime Salesforce executive and CEO of Slack, lasted less than a year in her position. OpenAI announced that she was leaving "to pursue other opportunities" and would be replaced by Dali Rajic, the former president and chief operating officer of cybersecurity company Wiz.

Meanwhile, Lightcap, who had been leading special projects for OpenAI, announced that he was leaving to "start something new."

The ongoing corporate reshuffling comes as OpenAI continues to plan to go public. The company's valuation currently sits at about $852 billion. The initial public offering is planned for some time in 2027.

The Verge reported that the changes have coincided with an increased role of co-founder and President Greg Brockman. The website described Brockman as essentially second in command in the company, but as the main decisionmaker when it comes to day-to-day operations.

The Verge noted that the current string of changes was preceded by several in April, including the departures of Vice President Kevin Weil, head of Sora Bill Peebles, and CTO of B2B applications Srinivas Narayanan.

Brockman told CNBC that the changes were not that unusual for a company and were drawing interest only because of the high-profile OpenAI

"I actually think that the difference between OpenAI and other organizations is that we are so much in the spotlight, so every departure gets scrutinized in a way that it doesn't otherwise," Brockman said.