Microsoft appoints IIT-Madras graduate Pavan Davuluri as new head of Windows

The announcement of the restructuring comes only days after Mustafa Suleyman joined Microsoft as CEO of its new AI team.

Digital Desk: Pavan Davuluri, an IIT Madras alumnus, has been named the new head of Microsoft Windows and Surface, becoming the latest Indian to hold a top position at a major technology business, following Google's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella.

Mr Davuluri succeeds veteran product chief Panos Panay, who left the department to join Amazon last year. Earlier, Mr Davuluri supervised the Surface group while Mikhail Parakhin commanded the Windows section. After Mr Parakhin and Mr Panay resigned, he took over the Windows and Surface departments.

Pavan Davuluri has been instrumental in Microsoft's attempts to optimise Windows for Arm-based devices. In a prior post on X (formerly Twitter), he stated, "Today, we announced our first ever #Surface AI PCs built exclusively for business: Surface Pro 10 for Business and Surface Laptop 6 for Business!  “I'm incredibly proud of the team for the work they did to bring these devices and experiences to life for our customers #Copilot."

Mustafa Suleyman, a co-founder of DeepMind, was recently appointed CEO of Microsoft's new AI branch. Mikhail Parakhin's team has been integrated into the new AI section. This news comes as Microsoft prepares to introduce new next-generation AI features and Arm-based Surface devices soon. 

The announcement of the restructuring comes only days after Mustafa Suleyman joined Microsoft as CEO of its new AI team.