Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has crossed the $400 billion revenue threshold for the first time, powered by strong growth in cloud computing and artificial intelligence-driven services.
The technology giant recorded an 18 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue, according to its latest earnings release, with total annual revenue surpassing $400 billion since the company was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Alphabet also announced plans to significantly scale up investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure, projecting capital expenditure of between $175 billion and $185 billion in 2026—almost double its 2025 spending—as competition intensifies across Silicon Valley.
Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said demand for AI products continues to outpace the company’s expanding capacity.
“We’ve been supply constrained even as we’ve been ramping up our capacity,” Pichai said during an earnings call.
Alphabet shares dipped slightly, falling just over one per cent in after-market trading.
The company recorded $113.8 billion in revenue in the final quarter of 2025, driven largely by its core search business and fast-growing cloud division. Quarterly profit stood at $34.5 billion, while cloud revenue surged 48 per cent to $17.7 billion.
Google’s search and advertising business remained its biggest revenue source, generating $82.3 billion, up from $72.5 billion a year earlier. YouTube advertising revenue also climbed to $11.4 billion from $10.5 billion.
Pichai said Alphabet’s sustained investments in AI infrastructure are already translating into broad-based growth across its businesses.
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Google’s Gemini AI platform also recorded rapid expansion, ending the year with 750 million monthly users an increase of 100 million from the previous quarter. Analysts say the growth positions Google to potentially overtake OpenAI in global AI leadership this year.
The steady cash flow from online advertising continues to give Alphabet a financial edge in funding its AI ambitions. The company now has more than 325 million paid subscriptions across consumer services such as Google One and YouTube Premium.
Alphabet’s cloud division, which competes with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, has emerged as a key growth engine as businesses increasingly migrate to AI-enabled cloud services.
The company also continues to benefit from a recent US court ruling that spared it from selling its Chrome browser amid monopoly concerns, although Google has filed an appeal against a separate ruling that found it held an illegal monopoly in online search.
Meanwhile, Alphabet’s “Other Bets” segment including autonomous vehicle unit Waymo—recorded a loss of $3.6 billion on revenues of $370 million. Waymo recently raised $16 billion in fresh funding, valuing the subsidiary at $126 billion, with Alphabet remaining the majority investor.
Waymo executives said the investment signals growing confidence in large-scale autonomous mobility, noting that the company now delivers over 400,000 rides weekly across six major US cities.
Esther Ososanya is an investigative journalist with Pinnacle Daily, reporting across health, business, environment, metro, Fct and crime. Known for her bold, empathetic storytelling, she uncovers hidden truths, challenges broken systems, and gives voice to overlooked Nigerians. Her work drives national conversations and demands accountability one powerful story at a time.
