Google parent earnings beat projections amid plans to invest deeply in AI
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, beat Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, and is planning a sharp increase in capital spending in 2026 as it continues to invest deeply in AI infrastructure.Alphabet on Wednesday reported profit of $34.5bn in the recently ended quarter, as revenue from cloud computing soared 48%.The company also forecast spending between $175bn and $185bn this year, a figure much higher than analysts’ expectations of roughly $115bn.In an earnings call, investors pressed Alphabet’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, on the significant increase.
“We’ve been supply constrained, even as we’ve been ramping up our capacity.Obviously, our CapEx spend this year is an eye towards the future,” Pichai said, in response.“We are constantly planning for the long-term.” Pichai added that he expects Google to “go through the year in a supply-constrained way”.Alphabet’s chief financial officer, Anat Ashkenazi, elaborated on the ways Google is trying to free up capital.
According to Ashkenazi, that includes constructing its own data centers “to ensure that we do it in the most efficient way”, having an AI-powered tool known as a “coding agent” write about half the company’s codes (before being reviewed by engineers), and using AI across departments, even for smaller tasks such as handling invoices.“We’re seeing our AI investments and infrastructure drive revenue and growth across the board, Pichai said.Alphabet’s annual revenue exceeded $400bn for the first time, Pichai added.The company reported $113.83bn in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025 – surpassing Wall Street estimates of $111.
43bn,Earnings per share (EPS) also beat Wall Street expectations: the company reported $2,82 in EPS, compared with estimates of $2,63,The report comes after several months of good news for the company in the AI race.
The newest version of Gemini, released by Google in November, is considered to be at the forefront of the generative AI industry, a development that has prompted panic at competitor OpenAI.Alphabet’s stock jumped 3% when Google debuted the model.Then in January, Google and Apple announced the company will start using Gemini to power AI features like Siri; the Apple assistant has previously faced criticism for not being as advanced and accurate as its competitors.Google’s valuation shot up to $4tn after the deal, making it the second-most-valuable company in the world.Analysts viewed the multi-year agreement as a huge win for Google: the tech giant beat out competitors like OpenAI, and got access to Apple’s user base of 2.
5bn active devices,“Gemini is becoming the AI engine for the world’s most successful software companies,” Pichai said on Wednesday,Alphabet’s projected spending on AI infrastructure means its capital expenditure could as much as double this year,Shares were volatile in after-hours trading, with investors weighing the swell in spending against surging revenue and profit,Like larger rivals Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure, Google Cloud has been grappling with capacity constraints, and Pichai said the expenditures were necessary “to meet customer demand and capitalize on the growing opportunities we have ahead of us”.
But investors have increasingly grown concerned about payoffs from AI investments, as the big cloud companies collectively spend massive amounts building out their infrastructure.Meta last week hiked capital investment for AI development this year by 73%.As the AI arms race heats up, Google’s Gemini AI assistant app exceeded 750 million users per month, Pichai said, up by 100 million compared with November.The driverless car division Waymo is working to integrate the AI model, and Google announced that its Chrome browser will adapt more Gemini AI features, too.Google is still dealing with scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators; the company has faced years of legal battles with US antitrust regulators over allegations it built an illegal monopoly over online search and advertising.
That fight resurged this week when the Department of Justice and several states filed an appeal to a landmark antitrust ruling last year, in which a judge imposed only modest limits on the company’s contracts.The federal government wanted tougher restrictions.Google executives did not discuss the legal proceedings on the earnings call.
Six Nations 2026 predictions: our writers on who will win and why
England have the squad depth, but France have a returning hero and hosting duties for the potentially decisive finaleWhat are you most looking forward to? Let’s hope it stops raining at some stage. Because if Matthieu Jalibert, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Henry Arundell, Manny Feyi-Waboso, Louis Rees-Zammit et al have a licence to thrill with a dry ball this could be an eye-catching championship.Who is going to win and why? France. Three home games, the world’s best player fit again, big forwards, highly promising youngsters, and England haven’t won the title in the season after a British & Irish Lions tour since 1963.Predicted finishing order France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Wales
Winter Olympics 2026: all your questions about the Milano Cortina Games, answered
The Winter Olympics are back – and this time they’re zigzagging across northern Italy. Milano Cortina 2026 will be the most spread-out Winter Games ever staged, jumping from Milan’s arenas to the Dolomites’ classic Alpine slopes. With returning superstars, brand-new events and Italy leaning hard into its Olympic heritage, these Games may feel like they’ve arrived quietly – but there is a lot going on. From how and when to watch, to who matters and why these Olympics could look very different, here are your most pressing questions answered.Yes
Winter Olympics briefing: curling subplots abound as lights go out on first action
Curling fans, rejoice! It is only fitting that the one sport played every single day of the Winter Olympics is the one that opens proceedings at Milano Cortina. Dubbed “chess on ice”, curling may not have the brute force of ice hockey or the airtime of snowboarding, but it is a huge test in precision, patience and handling pressure.Enter mixed doubles, which has its own subplot straight out of a romcom, with husband-and-wife pairings representing Norway, Canada and Switzerland. Norway’s Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten came up against familiar foes on Wednesday, having edged Great Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat in a semi-final thriller at Beijing 2022, sealing victory with the last stone.In the much-lower stakes rematch, Dodds and Mouat saw out a 8-6 victory to give Team GB a winning start to their Olympics
Hilary Knight, Team USA’s north star, chases one more Olympic hockey gold
The five-time Olympian leads a young US team into Milan after nearly two decades at the vanguard of women’s hockey’s rise and transformationFor nearly two decades, Hilary Knight has been the heartbeat of USA women’s ice hockey – the constant through gold-medal ecstasy and silver-medal heartbreaks, coaching changes, domestic league collapses and the sport’s long, uneven push toward professional stability. Now, at 36, she’s arrived in Milan chasing one more Olympic gold before bringing down the curtain on one of the most influential careers the game has known.The Olympic women’s hockey tournament opens on Thursday with the United States bringing one of their youngest and fastest teams in years – and their longest-tenured player in the captain’s sweater. Only 11 players return from the team that won silver in Beijing four years ago. Seven are still in college
Lando Norris driven to defend F1 title but says he has ‘different mentality to Max’
Lando Norris insists he enters the new Formula One season highly motivated to retain the world championship he won for the first time last year. The McLaren driver believes his maiden triumph has only given him greater confidence in his ability to defend the title.Norris won the championship after an intense competition that went to the wire. After a three-way fight with his teammate, Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Norris sealed the title by just two points at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.The British driver has always been open about his approach to racing and admitted that while he had already achieved his lifelong dream, that achievement did not blunt his determination to take another championship
Welcome to new cold war as world descends on Italy amid global political chaos
A short stroll from where the grandees of the International Olympic Committee are staying in Milan sits the Museum of Illusions – a place devoted to magic and misdirection. Mirrors distort. Perspectives shift. And nothing is quite what it seems. It is an apposite metaphor for these Winter Olympics, which officially open in Italy on Friday
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