OpenAI is restructuring its leadership for infrastructure and compute operations. Sachin Katti, who joined from Intel in November 2025 to oversee large-scale data center projects, will step down from his operational role on November 15, 2026. He will transition to an advisory position to support initiatives such as the Stargate project.
Uday Ruddarraju, who has served as OpenAI’s CTO of Compute since July 2026, will assume control of both infrastructure and compute divisions. Ruddarraju previously held an executive role at xAI, where he managed infrastructure engineering for xAI and SpaceX projects.
The leadership change occurs as OpenAI’s projected spending on computing power increases to approximately $750 billion through 2030. This figure represents an upward revision from a previous estimate of approximately $600 billion. CEO Sam Altman has indicated that total infrastructure investment could potentially reach into the trillions.
The departure of Katti follows the exits of other high-profile executives from the data center operations team earlier in 2026, including Peter Hoeschele and Chris Malone. The new unified leadership structure under Ruddarraju aims to integrate the management of physical facilities and the computing hardware housed within them.
