Alphabet Doubles AI Capital Expenditure

Alphabet Inc. announced a significant increase in its capital expenditure for the current year, projecting spending between $175 billion and $185 billion, nearly double the analyst expectations. This aggressive ramp-up is primarily directed towards deepening investments in AI infrastructure, including servers, data centers, and networking equipment, to meet growing customer demand and capitalize on AI opportunities. The announcement followed strong fourth-quarter results, where Alphabet Inc. reported surging revenue and profit, with its Alphabet Inc. — Google Cloud Platform division showing exceptional growth of 48% to $17.7 billion, surpassing Microsoft — Microsoft Azure's growth for the first time in years. CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted that AI investments are driving revenue and growth across the company. The launch of Google's Gemini 3 AI model in November and a recent deal with Apple Inc. to power Siri with Gemini models further underscore Alphabet Inc.'s progress in the AI race, prompting rivals like OpenAI to accelerate their own development.