Microsoft has picked Pavan Davuluri as its new head of Windows and Surface today. Last year, when Panos Panay unexpectedly left for Amazon, Microsoft split the Windows and Surface teams. Davuluri took over the Surface silicon and devices work, while Mikhail Parakhin led a new team for Windows and web experiences. Now, Davuluri will oversee both Windows and Surface, as Parakhin is leaving to explore other opportunities.
An internal memo from Rajesh Jha, Microsoft’s head of experiences and devices, revealed the reorganization of the Windows team. Microsoft is reuniting its Windows and devices teams to approach building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices together. Davuluri will lead the combined Windows and Surface team, reporting to Rajesh Jha. He has been with Microsoft for over 23 years and played a key role in developing custom Surface processors with Qualcomm and AMD.
During the transition, Mikhail Parakhin will report to Kevin Scott. However, Parakhin’s future at Microsoft is unclear, and he may be pursuing opportunities outside the company. Parakhin was involved in Bing Chat and took on broader responsibilities for Windows engineering and changes to Microsoft Edge.
The changes in Windows happened shortly after Mustafa Suleyman, a co-founder of Google DeepMind and former CEO of Inflection AI, joined Microsoft. Suleyman now leads a new AI team at Microsoft, with many former Inflection AI employees, including co-founder Karén Simonyan, joining him. This move is seen as a talent acquisition to avoid regulatory scrutiny.
Suleyman is now the CEO of Microsoft AI, overseeing consumer-facing AI products like Copilot, Bing, and Edge. He reports directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Initially, it seemed he would manage Mikhail Parakhin, but that’s not the case anymore.
Rajesh Jha mentioned that the Windows team will collaborate closely with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and experiences. However, there may be some challenges to address as both teams now handle Edge, a browser essential to the Windows experience.
