A surging AI infrastructure business has forced Oracle to install new financial leadership as demand for cloud computing capacity continues to outstrip supply.
The company appointed Hilary Maxson as chief financial officer effective immediately, replacing Doug Kehring who will return to focusing on go-to-market operations. Maxson previously served as group CFO at Schneider Electric, an energy management and automation company with over $45 billion in annual revenue.
Oracle's cloud infrastructure revenue soared 84% year-over-year to $4.9 billion in its fiscal third quarter, driving total quarterly revenue to a record $17.2 billion. Cloud services now account for 52% of Oracle's total business, crossing the halfway mark for the first time in company history.
The appointment comes as Oracle accelerates investment in data centers and infrastructure to support what executives describe as "all available capacity" requests from AI clients like OpenAI. The company confirmed a $30 billion annual contract with OpenAI earlier this year, along with similar commitments from Meta and Elon Musk's xAI.
These deals drove Oracle's Remaining Performance Obligations to $553 billion in Q3 2026, a 325% increase from the previous year.
"The backlog of the century" for AI infrastructure providers.
Oracle has pivoted resources toward "gigawatt-scale" data centers designed specifically for AI training workloads. The company recently announced general availability of liquid-cooled clusters featuring 64,000 GB200 GPUs, making it one of Nvidia's largest customers.
Despite reporting record growth, Oracle faces significant financial challenges from its expansion plans. The company committed to $50 billion in capital expenditures for fiscal year 2026 while carrying a debt load exceeding $100 billion.
Wall Street analysts view the CFO transition as a "small positive" for Oracle's long-term story given Maxson's background managing capital-intensive industrial operations at Schneider Electric.
Barclays maintains an Overweight rating on Oracle with a $240 price target, while Bank of America initiated coverage with a Buy rating and $200 target offering 30% upside potential.
Oracle stock traded around $144-$146 this week after hitting an all-time high of $345.72 in late 2025 before declining nearly 50%. The shares have maintained a recovery trajectory toward the $155 mark in early April even as competitors struggle with cooling consumer demand.
