Mountain View, California — Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has forecast capital expenditures of approximately $180 billion for 2026, significantly exceeding Wall Street expectations as the company intensifies its investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The forecast, shared alongside Alphabet’s fourth-quarter earnings, is well above analysts’ expectations of around $119.5 billion, according to Bloomberg data. If realised, the spending would nearly double Alphabet’s $91 billion in capital expenditures in 2025, much of which was directed toward servers and data centre infrastructure to support AI workloads.
Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi said the increased spending will primarily fund AI computing infrastructure, enabling the company to develop advanced AI models and meet rising demand across its Google Cloud and Services businesses.
“The investments that we’ve made in AI are already delivering results across the business,” Ashkenazi said during a post-earnings call, pointing to strong growth in Google Cloud driven by AI-related demand.
In the fourth quarter, Alphabet reported total revenue of $113.8 billion, an 18% increase year over year, exceeding analyst estimates. Earnings per share rose to $2.82, also above expectations.
Google Cloud revenue grew 48% year over year to $17.7 billion, supported by demand for AI-powered products and services. Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said artificial intelligence is increasingly driving engagement across Search and Cloud, highlighting the launch of the company’s Gemini 3 model as a key milestone.
Pichai added that the Gemini app has surpassed 750 million monthly active users, reflecting growing adoption of Alphabet’s AI offerings.
While investor concerns remain over the scale and long-term returns of Big Tech’s AI investments, Alphabet said it plans to maintain a strong financial position while continuing to scale its infrastructure.
Source: Yahoo Finance
