Who is Uday Ruddarraju? Hyderabad-educated tech leader takes charge of OpenAI’s computing business
OpenAI has elevated Indian-American technology executive Uday Ruddarraju to oversee its infrastructure and computing operations as the ChatGPT developer ramps up investments in data centres and the technology needed to power advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Born in Hyderabad, Ruddarraju studied at the Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT) before pursuing higher education at the University of Minnesota. Before joining OpenAI, he worked at Elon Musk's AI venture xAI, where he built experience in infrastructure engineering and large-scale computing systems.
Ruddarraju, who joined OpenAI in 2025, was named chief technology officer for compute in July 2026, according to Bloomberg. His latest appointment broadens his remit to cover the company's infrastructure and computing businesses, which are central to developing and running increasingly sophisticated AI systems.
Before moving to OpenAI, Ruddarraju worked at Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, where he gained experience in infrastructure engineering and large-scale computing systems.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Ruddarraju said he expected the leadership transition to be smooth, citing his previous involvement with OpenAI's engineering, construction and technical infrastructure teams. He also pointed to continuity among the company's strategy and business leadership.
In a LinkedIn post announcing his appointment as CTO of compute, Ruddarraju also drew attention to the engineering challenges associated with scaling OpenAI's computing capabilities.
Ruddarraju takes over from Sachin Katti, who is expected to step away from his infrastructure leadership responsibilities over the coming weeks while continuing to advise OpenAI.
Katti joined the company about a year ago after working as chief technology and AI officer at Intel. During his tenure, he supervised several large-scale infrastructure projects, including an eight-gigawatt development in Ohio involving SB Energy and Nvidia, as well as a data centre in Georgia that was designed and led by OpenAI.
He also oversaw GPT-Infra, an initiative focused on exploring how OpenAI's AI models could support semiconductor development and infrastructure projects. Bloomberg reported that responsibility for this initiative will now move to Richard Ho, OpenAI's chip chief.
The infrastructure division has also seen other personnel changes. According to Bloomberg, Chris Malone left the company in August, while Peter Hoeschele moved to Meta earlier this year.
The leadership reshuffle comes as OpenAI pursues an ambitious expansion of the physical infrastructure required to train and operate its AI models.
Chief executive Sam Altman has indicated that the company could spend trillions of dollars on infrastructure to support the development of future AI systems.
In February 2026, Reuters reported, citing CNBC, that OpenAI was expected to spend around $600 billion on computing infrastructure through 2030.
In his new role, Ruddarraju will be responsible for overseeing infrastructure operations and strengthening commercial relationships with major technology companies, including Nvidia.
His expanded responsibilities highlight the growing importance of computing capacity, data centres and infrastructure partnerships in the race to develop and deploy increasingly advanced AI models.
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