Google Invests $180B in Data Centers, Marking Crucial Expansion Year

Rowan Ashford

Published: February 5, 2026 7:04 AM ET

Google Invests $180B in Data Centers, Marking Crucial Expansion Year

In 2026, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, announced a significant investment in data centers. The company plans to allocate between $175 billion and $185 billion for capital expenditures. This figure is nearly double the spending from the previous year.

Major Financial Commitments

During a recent earnings call, Alphabet’s CFO, Anat Ashkenazi, highlighted the breakdown of these expenditures. Approximately 60% of the capex, estimated between $105 and $111 billion, will focus on rapidly depreciating assets, particularly servers.

40% of spending, around $70 to $74 billion, will support new data center construction and networking.
The investment will enhance AI infrastructure, incorporating Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs) and Nvidia GPUs.

AI Infrastructure and Partner Support

These investments are crucial for supporting both Google’s operations and the infrastructure needs of partners such as Apple, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Ashkenazi noted that the funding would be equally split between internal workloads and the Google Cloud Platform.

However, scaling compute capacity presents challenges. CEO Sundar Pichai expressed concerns about managing power, land, and supply chain constraints while meeting the growing demand for AI services.

Enhancing Advertising Efficiency

Alphabet is also integrating generative AI into its advertising strategy. Google’s chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, reported that the Gemini model is enhancing ad relevance, especially for complex searches. This innovation allows better monetization of longer search queries.

Gemini has improved understanding of user intent.
The model aids in non-English language ads, broadening business opportunities.

Impressive Revenue Growth

Alphabet’s advertising revenue reached $82.28 billion in the latest quarter, marking a year-over-year increase of over 13%. In addition, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) reported a remarkable 47% year-over-year growth, totaling $17.66 billion in revenues for the fourth quarter.

This surge in revenue was driven by strong demand for both AI and enterprise computing solutions. As a result, Alphabet achieved a profit of $34.45 billion on total revenues of $113.82 billion in Q4. For the entire year, revenues surpassed $402.84 billion, yielding a profit of $132.17 billion.