{"id":276086,"date":"2026-02-05T21:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/276086\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T21:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:17:09","slug":"googles-ai-investments-pay-off-as-alphabet-closes-gap-with-openai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/276086\/","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s AI investments pay off as Alphabet closes gap with OpenAI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>&#8216;The Big Money Show&#8217; discusses the dump in software and data stocks after new AI tools spark disruption fears, destroying $300 billion in market value.<\/p>\n<p>Alphabet executives struck a confident tone on Wednesday\u2019s post-earnings call, signaling that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/google\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Google\u2019s<\/a> heavy investments in artificial intelligence are now translating into real revenue growth across the business.<\/p>\n<p>The call was the first since Google released its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Gemini 3 model<\/a>, which has boosted user engagement and helped the company regain momentum in the intensifying AI race.<\/p>\n<p>While executives did not name <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/technology\/ads-coming-chatgpt-some-us-users-openai-generate-new-revenue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">OpenAI<\/a> directly, the message to investors was clear: Google\u2019s AI push is no longer just about experimentation \u2013 it is delivering returns across search, cloud and enterprise products.<\/p>\n<p>That confidence is underpinning Alphabet\u2019s willingness to dramatically increase spending. Executives said the company is considering capital expenditures of between $175 billion and $185 billion in 2026 to expand AI computing capacity, a forecast that initially rattled investors.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/technology\/apple-sees-biggest-sales-jump-4-years-powered-staggering-iphone-demand\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">APPLE SEES BIGGEST SALES JUMP IN 4 YEARS, POWERED BY &#8216;STAGGERING&#8217; IPHONE DEMAND<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sundar-pichai-google-1.jpg\" alt=\"Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google&#8217;s parent company, Alphabet. (Brandon Wade\/Reuters \/ Reuters)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Overall, we\u2019re seeing our AI investments and infrastructure drive revenue and growth across the board,&#8221; CEO Sundar Pichai said.<\/p>\n<p>The scale of that growth is now visible across the company. Alphabet reported more than $400 billion in annual revenue for the first time, underscoring the strength of its core businesses even as it pours money into AI infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/technology\/spotify-now-represents-one-third-music-industrys-total-recorded-revenue-2025\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SPOTIFY NOW REPRESENTS ONE-THIRD OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY&#8217;S TOTAL RECORDED REVENUE IN 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Google\u2019s Gemini app surpassed 750 million monthly active users by the end of the October through December quarter, up from 650 million in the prior period. While it still trails OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT \u2013 which its CEO said has more than 800 million weekly users \u2013 Pichai said engagement has risen sharply since the Gemini 3 launch.<\/p>\n<p>Gemini 3 is now embedded into Google\u2019s search experience and powers its enterprise AI offerings, which have reached 8 million paying licenses, according to the company.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ai-apps-gpt-gemini-claude.jpg\" alt=\"ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude shown on a phone screen\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>AI assistant apps on a smartphone &#8211; OpenAI ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Anthropic Claude. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Investor nerves over the capex surge eased as results came in. Google Cloud revenue jumped 48% in the quarter, reinforcing Wall Street\u2019s view that Alphabet\u2019s AI investments are driving tangible growth rather than speculative spending.<\/p>\n<p>The stock initially fell as much as 6% in after-hours trading before stabilizing, reflecting a broader message from investors: massive AI spending will be tolerated only if it produces clear financial returns.<\/p>\n<p>Alphabet\u2019s financial strength gives it an edge in that environment. With a deep cash position and multiple profit engines \u2013 from search and YouTube to cloud services \u2013 the company is better positioned than many rivals to sustain the enormous costs of the AI arms race.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sam-altman-openai.jpg\" alt=\"OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks at Microsoft Build Conference in Seattle on May 21, 2024.\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Microsoft Build conference at the Seattle Convention Center Summit Building in Seattle, Washington. (Jason Redmond\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Since early last year, Alphabet has gone from perceived laggard to leader among the &#8220;Magnificent Seven&#8221; tech giants, now rivaled only by Nvidia and Apple in market value. By contrast, growing investor unease around OpenAI\u2019s costly expansion has highlighted the appeal of Alphabet\u2019s scale, profitability and balance-sheet firepower.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/apps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you are software and you are connected to OpenAI, you\u2019re doubly not intriguing to people,&#8221; said Eric Clark, portfolio manager of the LOGO ETF. &#8220;Right now, Google has the hot hand.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8216;The Big Money Show&#8217; discusses the dump in software and data stocks after new AI tools spark disruption&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-276086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}