Pavan Davuluri, an IIT Madras graduate, has assumed the role of the new leader of Microsoft Windows and Surface, joining the ranks of notable Indians in prominent positions within major tech firms such as Sundar Pichai of Google and Satya Nadella of Microsoft. Davuluri succeeds Panos Panay, who departed to join Amazon last year after a long tenure as product chief. Previously, Davuluri supervised the Surface division while Mikhail Parakhin oversaw Windows. Following the departures of Parakhin and Panay, Davuluri has taken on responsibility for both Windows and Surface.
According to an internal memo from Rajesh Jha, Microsoft’s head of experiences and devices, obtained by The Verge, the reorganization aims to adopt a comprehensive approach to developing devices and experiences in the “AI era.”
“In light of these changes, we’re consolidating the Windows Experiences and Windows + Devices teams within the Experiences + Devices (E+D) division. This integration will facilitate a comprehensive approach to developing silicon, systems, experiences, and devices spanning both Windows client and cloud platforms in the AI era,” stated Rajesh Jha.
“Pavan Davuluri will spearhead this effort, continuing to report to me. Shilpa Ranganathan and Jeff Johnson, along with their teams, will directly report to Pavan. The Windows team will maintain close collaboration with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and experiences,” he added.
With over 23 years of experience at Microsoft, Davuluri played a crucial role in collaborations with Qualcomm and AMD to develop processors for Surface. “We’re enthusiastic about this team contributing to Microsoft AI’s ambitious goal of creating world-class consumer AI products. I eagerly anticipate our collaboration with Mustafa and his team as we integrate our AI products, including Copilot, across our E+D products and services,” the memo concluded.
The announcement of this restructuring follows closely on the heels of Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Google DeepMind and former CEO of Inflection AI, joining Microsoft as the CEO of its new AI team.
