Google\u2019s parent company Alphabet is targeting capital expenditure of $175 billion to $185 billion this year, in yet another aggressive ramp-up in spending as it deepens its investments to push ahead in the AI race.<\/p>\n
Analysts on average had expected Alphabet to spend about $115.26 billion this year, according to LSEG data.<\/p>\n
The company announced its spending plans as it reported fourth-quarter revenue of $113.8 billion, up 18 per cent year-on-year and narrowly ahead of Wall Street expectations of $111.3 billion. Net income rose 30 per cent to $34.5 billion over the same period, beating consensus forecasts of $31.9 billion.<\/p>\n
Shares of Alphabet were $3.92, or 1.4 per cent, lower at $328.88 in after-hours trading.<\/p>\n
Alphabet, headed by Sundar Pichai, has emerged as a leader in artificial intelligence after overcoming fears that start-ups like OpenAI would eat into its internet search business. Google has developed its own successful Gemini AI model. It is also producing its own custom chips, which investors hope will become a growth area.<\/p>\n
The Gemini AI assistant app exceeded 650 million users a month in November, while the company\u2019s AI Overviews feature in search also reached more than 2 billion monthly users.<\/p>\n
Nikhil Lai, principal analyst at Forrester, the analytics firm, said: \u201cAlphabet\u2019s record ad revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 signals Google\u2019s search advertising\u2019s sustained momentum and decent performance from YouTube, which is bigger than Netflix. Google\u2019s search ad revenue is, for now, resilient to searchers\u2019 diversification beyond Google.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last month Google struck a deal to power Apple\u2019s revamped Siri voice assistant with its Gemini models, a partnership that unlocks a huge market for Google, with Apple\u2019s installed base of over 2.5 billion devices.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Which free AI is the best? We put Gemini, ChatGPT and Grok to the test<\/a><\/p>\n Optimism around Alphabet\u2019s innovation in AI has pushed its shares close to a record high<\/a>, giving the company a market capitalisation of more than $4 trillion, not far behind the $4.3 trillion valuation of Nvidia, the world\u2019s largest publicly traded company. Alphabet outperformed the other \u201cMagnificent Seven\u201d US technology firms last year, rising more than 64 per cent. So far this year it is continuing to lead the group, up 6 per cent. <\/p>\n
![\"Sundar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/\/a2d1996b-db02-4e6b-b185-b86aea2e5a8c.jpg\")
<\/p>\n