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OpenAI Head of Data Centers Chris Malone Departs, Fourth Senior Exec to Exit Ahead of 2027 IPO

By Alexis Dufresne Published August 25, 2026 at 21:28 UTC

OpenAI ai-business

Summary

OpenAI's head of data centers Chris Malone left the company last week per the WSJ, becoming the fourth senior executive to exit ahead of the planned 2027 listing after CRO Denise Dresser, COO Brad Lightcap, and former No. 2 Fidji Simo. Malone joined in March 2025 just after Stargate was announced and previously led data-center strategy at Meta; under his tenure OpenAI pivoted from Stargate reliance toward leasing more capacity from cloud providers.

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Rohan Paul: https://t.co/Z3MPl3fkG8 →
Mél Hogan / The Data Fix @melhogan.bsky.social: Exclusive | OpenAI’s Head of Data Centers Has Left the Company www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open... →
Anissa Gardizy: scoop: Another OpenAI infrastructure departure, this time data center head Chris Malone https://t.co/tp8GMoDDCa →
Isaiah Bishop @isaiahbishop.bsky.social amplified

@peark.es

In addition to CRO, COO, and a very high up advisor to the CEO, OAI has now lost the guy in charge of building its data centers.
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Originally reported by wsj.com

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Original headline: OpenAI Head of Data Centers Chris Malone Departs, Fourth Senior Exec to Exit Ahead of 2027 IPO