Microsoft appoints Pavan Davuluri as new Windows, Surface chief

Microsoft has announced Pavan Davuluri as the new head of its Windows and Surface team, consolidating leadership roles after the departure of Panos Panay last year.

Following Panay’s unexpected move to Amazon, Microsoft split the Windows and Surface groups, with Davuluri overseeing Surface silicon and devices while Mikhail Parakhin led a new team focused on Windows and web experiences.

Now, with Parakhin opting to explore new opportunities, Davuluri will take on the combined responsibility for both Windows and Surface divisions.

An internal memo obtained by The Verge, authored by Rajesh Jha, Microsoft’s head of experiences and devices, outlines the reorganization of the Windows team.

Microsoft is reuniting its Windows and devices teams to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud services in the era of AI.

Pavan Davuluri, who has been with Microsoft for over 23 years, will now lead the Windows and Surface team, reporting directly to Rajesh Jha.

Davuluri played a significant role in Microsoft’s collaboration with Qualcomm and AMD to develop custom Surface processors.

Meanwhile, Mikhail Parakhin will transition under the guidance of Kevin Scott, but his future at Microsoft remains uncertain as he explores new roles outside the company.

Parakhin was previously involved in projects such as Bing Chat and Microsoft Edge.

This reshuffle in the Windows team coincides with the recent appointment of Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Google DeepMind and former Inflection AI CEO, as the CEO of Microsoft AI.

Suleyman will oversee consumer-facing AI products like Copilot, Bing, and Edge, reporting directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. However, plans for Suleyman to manage Mikhail Parakhin have changed.

Rajesh Jha highlighted the close collaboration between the Windows and Microsoft AI teams on AI, silicon, and experiences.

The integration of Edge, now under Microsoft AI, presents potential areas of overlap for the new leadership to navigate.

The memo also outlined other leadership changes within Microsoft, with various teams reporting into Mustafa in the new Microsoft AI organization.

The company expressed excitement for the team’s role in achieving its ambition to develop world-class consumer AI products, including Copilot, across Microsoft’s Experiences + Devices portfolio.