Microsoft names Pavan Davuluri as its new Windows and Surface chief starting today

Microsoft has just announced that its new Windows and Surface chief is Pavan Davuluri, after losing Panos Panay to Amazon last year, where Microsoft split Windows and Surface teams with two different leaders.

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Davuluri took over as the Surface silicon and devices boss, with Mikhail Parakhin leading a new team that will work on Windows and web experiences, but now both Windows and Surface are under the responsibility of Davuluri, as Parakhin has left as he "decided to explore new roles".

Microsoft is pooling the Windows and devices team together, which is news learned by an internal memo from Microsoft's head of experiences and devices, Rajesh Jha, who outlined the new Windows organization. The Verge got their hands on the memo, where Jha explained: "This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era".

Davuluri is now the boss of Microsoft's Windows and Surface teams, where he will report directly to Rajesh Jha. Davuluri has over 23 years of experience at Microsoft, where he was "deeply involved" in the custom Surface processors that Microsoft made with Qualcomm and AMD.

Jha said that the Windows team will "work closely with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and experiences". He noted that there are going to be some interesting areas of overlap that will need navigating through by the new leaders at Microsoft.

Jha explained in his memo: "As part of this change, we are bringing together the Windows Experiences and Windows + Devices teams as a core part of the Experiences + Devices (E+D) division. This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era. Pavan Davuluri will lead this team and continue to report to me. Shilpa Ranganathan and Jeff Johnson and their teams will report directly to Pavan. The Windows team will continue to work closely with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and experiences".