OpenAI Loses a Top Data Center Exec as Stream of High-Profile Departures Continues
Chris Malone, OpenAI’s head of data centers, left the company in the week of 17 August 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported and CNBC confirmed, bringing the year’s tally of senior exits to thirteen by Business Insider’s count. This breakdown separates the confirmed facts from the inference: what OpenAI actually said about the infrastructure reorganisation, how Malone’s reporting line moved from president Greg Brockman to vice president Sachin Katti before he left, the four-way split of the data centre remit across Sachin Katti, Uday Ruddarraju, Brent Mayo and Spas Lazarov, the nine named 2026 departures with dates and stated reasons, and the second-quarter numbers that made this run of exits land harder than last year’s would have. It closes with a practical vendor-stability review any buyer can run in an afternoon.