Google justifies its massive AI spending with a booming cloud business
TechCrunch AI Lucas Ropek ● Covered by 14 sources
Google's cloud business revenue surged 82% year-over-year to $24.8 billion in the latest quarter, driven largely by enterprise AI adoption, demonstrating returns on the company's substantial AI infrastructure spending. The company reported a backlog of $514 billion in cloud contracting work and profit jumped from $28.1 billion to $112.1 billion compared to the prior year. These results suggest Google's multibillion-dollar AI investments are beginning to generate significant revenue and profitability, though the company continues heavy capital spending of $180–190 billion annually for data centers and chips.
Why it matters
Google's cloud business is thriving, as companies adopting its AI and AI infrastructure services help the tech giant to report record profits.
Also covered by
- Google DeepMind — Accelerating the frontiers of scientific discovery: Google’s $40M commitment to the Genesis Mission
- TLDR Dev — Introducing Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and 3.5 Flash Cyber
- Meta AI Blog — How Meta’s AI Models Are Powering the First Wave of Genesis Mission Projects
- MarkTechPost — Google Releases Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and 3.5 Flash Cyber: A Cheaper, More Token-Efficient Flash Tier Built for Agentic Workloads
- TechCrunch AI — Google releases three new Gemini models — but no 3.5 Pro
- Ars Technica — Google announces Gemini 3.6 Flash and cybersecurity AI, teases 3.5 Pro and Gemini 4
- Google DeepMind — Introducing Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and 3.5 Flash Cyber
- The New Stack — Google ships 3 new Gemini models. Just not the one everyone’s waiting for.
- The Verge — Google launches a cheaper alternative to large AI security models like Mythos
- TLDR — Google is building a chip with Gemini baked into the silicon
- The Neuron — Google Building Gemini-Native Server Chip Called Frozen
- The New Stack — Google just bet its inference future on a chip built for one model
- TechCrunch AI — Google is working on a new AI chip designed to make Gemini more efficient