Lambda is bringing in infrastructure and telecom veterans as it prepares for a massive AI compute expansion. The AI cloud company named former SoftBank International and Sprint CEO Michel Combes as Chief Executive Officer, while co-founder Stephen Balaban moves into the Chief Technology Officer role to focus on product vision and technology strategy.
The executive restructuring follows a planned leadership expansion tied to Lambda’s $1.5 billion Series E funding round in November 2025. Additional recent additions to the executive bench include former Snap COO Jerry Hunter as Vice Chairman of Compute Delivery, former Turo CFO Charles Fisher, and former Altice General Counsel David Connolly as CLO. Co-founder Michael Balaban will also transition into a new role as Chief Product Officer to oversee product execution. The unified leadership team is tasked with scaling Lambda’s hardware architecture to reach 3 gigawatts of AI compute under management by 2030.
The management shift puts infrastructure and telecom veterans at the helm of the hardware platform to accelerate capital deployments for data centers. Commenting on the appointments, co-founder Stephen Balaban stated, “Michel and John have raised and deployed many billions across some of the most infrastructure-intensive businesses in history.” Combes noted the operational focus will remain on expanding the firm’s data center footprint, adding, “I’m excited to contribute my experience leading capital-intensive businesses to continue scaling Lambda’s operational architecture.”