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Google CEO says Pichai says people "love" AI Overviews and keep coming back to search more
Key Points
Alphabet plans to invest up to 190 billion US dollars in AI and cloud infrastructure by 2026 to keep pace with surging demand for server and network services, with spending expected to rise further in 2027.
Google Cloud revenue jumped 63% year-on-year to over 20 billion dollars, likely fueled by strong AI demand and growing token consumption.
Google still does not break out exact revenue figures for its pure AI business, and questions remain about how much of the growth stems from circular deals in which Google invests in AI startups like Anthropic that then spend the money back on Google Cloud services.
Alphabet is investing up to $190 billion in AI and cloud infrastructure through 2026, and the company says spending will rise "significantly" again in 2027.
Alphabet posted record revenue of $109.9 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 22 percent overall. Google Cloud cleared $20 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, up 63 percent year-over-year. Revenue could have been higher: CEO Sundar Pichai said the business is constrained in the near term by a shortage of compute. The cloud backlog has grown to $462 billion.
Google suggests AI is the main driver behind that cloud growth, pointing to a sharp increase in token usage. That's a reasonable proxy for overall AI activity, but it's a weak signal for actual usefulness, which is what will really matter going forward.
To meet the demand, Google is also rethinking how it sells its TPUs, the company's in-house AI chips. Until now they've only been available through Google Cloud, but the company will start shipping them directly to select customers' data centers.
AI is showing up across the business
Google says revenue from generative AI models is up 800 percent year-over-year and that deal sizes keep growing. Paying monthly active users on Gemini Enterprise, the company's B2B product, rose 40 percent in a single quarter. The consumer Gemini apps also had their best quarter yet.