Malone joined OpenAI in March of 2025 after previously working on data center infrastructure as a “distinguished engineer” at both Meta<\/a> and Google<\/a>, according to his LinkedIn<\/a>. He helped oversee OpenAI’s ambitious infrastructure plans, which include a target to spend roughly $600 billion<\/a> on compute by 2030. <\/p>\n “We recently reorganized our infrastructure organization to support the scale and pace of our work,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement. “We have a strong, deeply experienced data center team in place, with clear leadership and the technical expertise to execute our plans.” <\/p>\n Malone’s exit comes during a particularly tense moment for AI infrastructure in the U.S., where backlash against data centers<\/a> is mounting rapidly. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, or NRSC, warned last week that data centers have become a “sleeper issue” for the entire midterm election cycle, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.<\/p>\n The<\/a> Wall Street Journal<\/a> was first to report Malone’s departure.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, OpenAI’s revenue chief, Denise Dresser<\/a>, suddenly announced she would be leaving the company after less than a year in her role. Her exit came just days after Brad Lightcap<\/a>, another longtime executive, said he was ending an eight-year run at OpenAI to “start something new.” <\/p>\n In addition to Dresser and Lightcap, Fidji Simo<\/a>, who had been\u00a0OpenAI’s\u00a0product and business chief, announced last month that she would step down from her role to focus on managing a chronic illness. Four other executives left the company in April. <\/p>\n The string of executive departures has surprised some investors<\/a>, especially as the company is working to justify its $852 billion valuation ahead of what is expected to be a massive IPO. OpenAI confidentially filed<\/a> its prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, but it hasn’t officially shared when it plans to debut. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told employees in an all-hands meeting<\/a> this month that OpenAI “will be a public company in 2027.”<\/p>\n OpenAI President Greg Brockman<\/a> brushed off concerns about the executive shakeups last week, telling CNBC in an interview that he doesn’t think the wave of exits is “actually that atypical.”<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n
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