Will Alphabet double its capital expenditures for AI to over $175 billion in 2026?
According to reporting by Reuters, Alphabet announced plans to nearly double capital expenditures in 2026 to a range of $175–185 billion, primarily to expand AI-related infrastructure. The bulk of spending is expected to go toward data centers, servers, and networking equipment to support artificial intelligence workloads. This would mark a sharp increase from $91.5 billion in capex in 2025 and far exceed analysts’ prior expectations of roughly $115 billion, according to LSEG estimates. Alphabet justifies the aggressive investment by pointing to growing monetization of AI products. CEO Sundar Pichai stated that Google’s Gemini app has surpassed 750 million monthly users, and the company has sold 8 million paid enterprise licenses for Gemini. However, the spending surge comes amid rising investor concerns about AI returns, as other major tech firms have seen sharp stock declines. The uncertainty lies in whether Alphabet will follow through on this historically large capex plan in full—or moderate spending if market conditions, margins, or investor sentiment shift.
Conditions
Resolves “Yes” if by December 31, 2026, Alphabet reports total capital expenditures of $175 billion or more for the year, as disclosed in official earnings reports or annual filings and reported by major financial media. Otherwise — “No.”
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