OpenAI appoints Uday Ruddarraju to lead infrastructure and compute

OpenAI has appointed Uday Ruddarraju to head both its infrastructure and compute units. Sachin Katti, the previous head of infrastructure, will transition to an advisor role with his last day set for November 15.

Katti announced his departure in a LinkedIn post. He said the past year has been extraordinary. He expressed confidence in his successor and the team. "I am proud of what they’ve built and has total confidence in Uday and the team to carry it forward," Katti stated. He added that he is looking forward to building something new.

Ruddarraju, who joined OpenAI in 2025 and became chief technology officer for compute in July, cited his prior work with the infrastructure team's engineering and technical operations. He has engaged with senior executives at partners like Nvidia. Ruddarraju expects the transition to be smooth. He said Katti's strategy and business teams would remain in place.

"Sachin has done an incredible job maintaining the commercial partnerships. Now, I have to spend more time on the commercial side," Ruddarraju said.

Katti's compute expansion achievements

During his tenure, Katti oversaw major data center initiatives. These included an 8-gigawatt project in Ohio involving SB Energy and Nvidia and a facility in Georgia that is the first to be designed and led by OpenAI. He also led the GPT-Infra initiative, which partners with leaders to turn AI advances into products.

Katti highlighted specific accomplishments. We secured double-digit gigawatts of new compute capacity across Ohio, Portsmouth, Georgia, Trainium and several other projects, he said. He noted partnerships with a wide array of major tech firms. Katti also claimed the team got GPT-Infra from an idea to a real business with customers in just three months.

Before OpenAI, Katti was chief technology and AI officer at Intel Corp. Much of his career was spent in academia, including as a professor at Stanford University where he co-founded two companies. In March, he took over the Stargate data center effort.

OpenAI's infrastructure investment outlook

The leadership shift signals a strategic focus on scaling AI infrastructure. OpenAI now expects to spend about $750 billion on computing power through 2030. That projection is up from the $600 billion reported earlier this year. CEO Sam Altman has indicated the company could spend trillions on the physical infrastructure needed for advanced AI.

Recent executive departures

Katti's exit follows other high-profile changes in teams responsible for data center capacity. Chris Malone, who helped oversee the data center buildout, left OpenAI in August. Peter Hoeschele, a key contributor to the Stargate infrastructure project, moved to Meta Platforms Inc. earlier this year. He was accompanied by two colleagues.

The infrastructure unit has seen a series of leadership changes. In a related move, xAI's construction project manager Johnathan Henley joined OpenAI. The GPT-Infra initiative will now come under the leadership of OpenAI's chip chief, Richard Ho. Ruddarraju, a former xAI executive born in Hyderabad, India, played a key role in building the Colossus AI supercomputing cluster at Elon Musk's company. Uday Ruddarraju will spend more time on the commercial side while maintaining existing partnerships and ensuring a smooth transition.