OpenAI’s Sachin Katti to leave infrastructure role; compute CTO takes over

OpenAI is changing the leader responsible for securing the computing infrastructure behind its models. Sachin Katti said on October 14 that he will leave his infrastructure and compute leadership role after roughly a year. His last day is November 15, 2026, after which he will continue supporting the company as an adviser.

Uday Ruddarraju, currently OpenAI’s chief technology officer for compute, will replace Katti and lead the overall compute organization, a company spokesperson told CNBC. The appointment puts an existing technical leader in charge rather than bringing in an outside successor.

A new builder’s project, an internal successor

Katti described the decision as a move toward building something new. In a LinkedIn post quoted by CNBC, he reflected on the breadth of the infrastructure job.

He said building at that scale had given him a view into chips and computer systems, as well as data centers, energy and supply chains. His list also included financing and the economics of AI. He expressed pride in what his teams had accomplished together and thanked the partners who had helped make that work possible.

Ruddarraju joined OpenAI in July 2025, according to his LinkedIn profile cited by CNBC. Before joining the company, he was head of infrastructure engineering at xAI.

In a statement quoted by CNBC, Katti endorsed his successor and the team:

The remit behind the handoff

OpenAI’s compute organization develops its infrastructure roadmap and ensures the company has the capacity to train and run its models.

The scale is substantial: CNBC reports that OpenAI is targeting roughly $600 billion in total compute spending by 2030. That figure is a spending target, not a tally of completed investment. The company is also involved in multibillion-dollar data-center projects in Ohio, Texas and Georgia.