Alphabet Gains on $20 Billion Cloud Sales in Artificial Intelligence News
Alphabet’s artificial intelligence news came with a clear split on Wednesday. Google’s parent reported $20 billion in cloud sales and said demand for its AI software and infrastructure drove a meaningful acceleration in growth. Meta moved the other way after raising full-year capital expenditures to as much as $145 billion.
Alphabet said the cloud result beat the $18.4 billion projection. The company also said the period was its strongest quarter yet for Google consumer AI services, including the Gemini app. Investors rewarded that mix, and Alphabet shares gained 6.6% in late trading after the report.
Alphabet Cloud Sales Hit $20 Billion
Sundar Pichai said, “Our AI models have great momentum,” and added, “We are bringing helpful AI into the hands of billions of people every day through our products and platforms.”
He was pointing to a business that is starting to show measurable demand, not just promises. Alphabet said its backlog nearly doubled from the prior quarter to over $460 billion, which suggests customers are lining up for more of the company’s cloud and AI capacity.
Meta Raises Spending to $145 Billion
Meta said rising component prices helped drive the increase in capital expenditures. The company does not sell cloud computing services, so its AI push is leaning on internal products and infrastructure rather than an external revenue line like Alphabet’s.
That difference showed up in the market reaction. Meta shares tumbled more than 6% after the announcement, and Mandeep Singh of Intelligence said, “Meta’s standalone app hasn’t had the amount of engagement.”
Zuckerberg Faces Investor Skepticism
Mark Zuckerberg told analysts, “we have a sense of the shape of where things need to be,” and said his answers to analysts might be “unfulfilling.”
The contrast is the real story for investors tracking AI spend. Alphabet paired heavier demand with a stronger quarter, while Meta asked the market to absorb a bigger spending plan without giving a precise map for how each AI product will be cultivated.
The unanswered issue is whether Meta can turn that larger budget into the kind of user engagement and operating proof that Alphabet just showed in cloud and consumer AI services.
