Microsoft reorganizes Azure cloud leadership in AI overhaul
Scott Guthrie, who runs Microsoft's cloud and AI group, told staff on Monday (Oct 13) that the company is reshuffling the leadership of its Azure cloud business, consolidating some units and reorienting the division around AI, The Information reported. As part of the shake-up, Arun Ulag, previously in charge of Azure's database products, gets a wider brief covering the executives running the core Azure business — which supplies compute to customers such as OpenAI — as well as Azure engineering. It is not yet clear how many teams or staff are affected or when the changes take effect. Separately, The Next Web reported that on the same day Microsoft said it would expand its Maia AI chip systems and make its own chips the primary platform for running AI services including Copilot starting in 2027.
Azure is a key compute supplier for frontier AI developers, so consolidating its leadership signals Microsoft is pushing the cloud unit further toward AI.