The 22-year-old, who was reportedly attracting interest from Bath and Saracens as well as clubs in France, will join the Sharks next June.
Gray joins fellow Scots Fraser McKenzie, Richie Vernon and Alasdair Dickinson at Edgeley Park.
Gray, regarded as one of the northern hemisphere's rising forward talents, was persuaded to join the Sharks by executive director of sport Steve Diamond, who also revealed an agreement to sign a second forward.
Diamond said: "Richie is the first to be announced of two who have already agreed to join us.
"Richie is only 22 but has the makings of a world-class forward and he has been courted by a number of Premiership clubs and several French clubs.
"But he has bought into our vision at Sale Sharks and wants to spend the next part of his career in Manchester."
Gray played in all of Scotland's games in the recent World Cup and has won 16 caps for his country.
Diamond added: "Sale Sharks have a great relationship with Scottish players down the years from Bryan Redpath and Jason White through to Alasdair Dickinson, Richie Vernon and Fraser McKenzie.
"Our toughest two weeks are now over but we've now got to make sure we go into the next period of league games ensuring that we iron out those little errors.
"The aim now with all the guys back from the World Cup is to get everyone bedded in properly and get some consistency going into the next set of games."
Sale will look to bounce back from successive Aviva Premiership losses to Leicester and Saracens when they travel to play French club Brive in the Amlin Cup on Saturday.
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