Google has hired Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan and several top R&D staff in a $2.4 billion licensing and compensation deal, intensifying the AI coding talent war. According to CNBC, the search giant will not invest in Windsurf but secured a nonexclusive license to parts of its technology.

Windsurf's CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and several top engineers are heading to Google DeepMind; their mission: help power Gemini, Google's bold new agentic coding initiative. And while Windsurf will continue as a companywith Jeff Wang now interim CEO and Graham Moreno as presidentthere's no mistaking where the spotlight is.

Key Windsurf figures, including CEO Varun Mohan and co-founder Douglas Chen, will join Google DeepMind to focus on agentic coding.