OpenAI's infrastructure lead, Sachin Katti, said Wednesday he is leaving the company after about a year, with Uday Ruddarraju set to take over the compute organization.

Katti announced the move on LinkedIn, writing that he "decided to move on to build something new." His last day is Nov. 15, and he will stay on as an advisor. Ruddarraju, who has been OpenAI's CTO of compute, will lead the overall compute group, a spokesperson said.

In his post, Katti described the scale of the work: "Building AI infrastructure at this scale has given me an incredible view into every dimension of the compute world, from silicon and systems to datacenters, energy, supply chains, financing, and the economics of AI." He added that he has "total confidence in Uday and the team to carry it forward."

The compute organization shapes OpenAI's infrastructure roadmap and keeps its models training and serving. The company is targeting roughly $600 billion in total compute spend by 2030 and is involved in multi-billion-dollar data center projects in Ohio, Texas and Georgia.

The change comes as U.S. data center buildouts face mounting backlash over noise, electricity rates and water use, an issue that has become a flashpoint in the midterm elections, with candidates in both parties campaigning against the facilities.

Ruddarraju joined OpenAI in July of last year, according to his LinkedIn, after serving as head of infrastructure engineering at Elon Musk's xAI, which SpaceX acquired earlier this year.

Katti's exit continues a run of executive departures in 2026. In July, product and business chief Fidji Simo said she would move into an advisory role to focus on recovery after a "severe exacerbation of a chronic illness." The next month, longtime executive Brad Lightcap and revenue chief Denise Dresser also left.

OpenAI President Greg Brockman told CNBC at the time that he doesn't see the wave as atypical for a young company, saying that because OpenAI is in the spotlight, "every departure gets scrutinized in a way that it doesn't otherwise." He added: "I'm a constant, Sam [Altman] is a constant, and I think that we are stronger because of that resilience and diversity."

Source: CNBC