Alphabet Inc. delivered impressive second-quarter results, outperforming Wall Street estimates on both revenue and profit as the company continues to benefit from robust digital ad sales and accelerating demand in its cloud computing division.
The Google parent reported revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter ended June 30, surpassing analyst expectations of $94 billion. The company’s profit reached $2.31 per share, compared to the $2.18 per share forecast by LSEG.
Advertising business, which still contributes roughly three-quarters of its overall revenue, climbed 10.4% to reach $71.34 billion, beating projections as Alphabet’s core search platform held its ground against rising competition from artificial intelligence competitors.
Meanwhile, Google Cloud revenue soared 32% year-over-year, well above the anticipated 26.5% growth, with management reporting a 28% increase in quarter-over-quarter customer count.
In response to the overwhelming cloud demand and advancement in AI technologies, Alphabet announced a sharp increase in capital expenditures. The company now plans to invest approximately $85 billion this year—up from the previously set $75 billion target and ahead of what many in the market anticipated. Executives indicated that capital investment is likely to rise further in 2026 as Alphabet scales up its AI and data center infrastructure.
Analysts note that the substantial uptick in spending—part of a broader sector trend expected to see over $320 billion channeled into AI infrastructure by major tech firms this year—reflects Alphabet’s determination to seize leadership in emerging technologies.
While some investors initially reacted cautiously to the scale of capital deployment, many view these investments as necessary to secure long-term competitiveness, particularly with rivals like Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud landscape and Chinese tech giants sharpening their edge in AI.
Alphabet’s aggressive expansion is further underscored by its recent partnership to supply cloud capacity to OpenAI, and by the rapid adoption of its AI products such as Gemini, now exceeding 450 million monthly users. The company is also boosting engagement with newly introduced AI features in Google Search, which quickly amassed 100 million monthly active users within months of launch.
Alphabet’s earnings and investment strategy underscore the company’s focus on reinforcing its infrastructure and capturing an outsized share of the global AI market, positioning it to remain a central player in the evolving digital economy.
