Alphabet Tops $20.03 Billion Google Cloud, Google Stock Rises

Google stock moved higher after Alphabet reported first-quarter results on Wednesday, with Google Cloud revenue reaching $20.03 billion and topping Wall Street’s $18.4 billion estimate. The company also beat on earnings and revenue, giving investors a cleaner view of how cloud growth is feeding the rest of the business.

Alphabet’s $5.11 EPS Beat

$5.11 in adjusted earnings per share compared with $2.62 expected, while revenue reached $109.9 billion against the $107.1 billion forecast. That is a sharp step up from the same period last year, when Alphabet reported $2.81 per share on $90.23 billion in revenue, and it shows the quarter landed well above the bar set by Wall Street.

$77.2 billion in Google advertising revenue also topped the $76.2 billion estimate, while YouTube advertising revenue came in at $9.88 billion. The advertising figures matter because they show the company did not need to lean on a single business line to clear expectations; search and video both contributed alongside cloud.

Google Cloud Adds The Lift

$20.03 billion from Google Cloud was the clearest driver of the quarter. The business exceeded forecasts by $1.63 billion, a gap large enough to matter inside a company already as big as Alphabet. For shareholders, that means cloud is no longer just a side line in the earnings story; it is now part of the core growth argument.

30% is how far Alphabet stock has climbed over the past six months, compared with a 15% gain for Amazon stock and a 20% drop for Microsoft stock over the same stretch. Much of that move has been tied to Google’s cloud platform and Gemini artificial intelligence models, which gives this quarter’s cloud beat more weight than a simple one-quarter revenue surprise.

TPU Bets Face Nvidia

Last week, Alphabet announced two new AI chips at Google Cloud Next 2026: the TPU 8t and TPU 8i. Earlier this month, it also entered into an agreement with Anthropic and Broadcom to provide the AI startup with multiple gigawatts of TPU capacity, with the first raft of processors expected to come online next year. The moves push Google further into competition with Nvidia and AMD.

Brian Nowak, a Morgan Stanley analyst, wrote that he hopes to get more color from Alphabet’s leadership about its TPU strategy moving forward, and that he does not believe the TPU business is priced into the stock. He added that it could be a significant driver for the company in 2027, which leaves the next readout focused on whether management can turn the chip push into a business investors are already valuing.