Google-parent Alphabet outlines mega $185 billion capex plan after earnings beat; Stock falls

Alphabet Inc., parent of Google, announced a mega $185 billion capex plan for 2026, smashing analyst expectations of a $119.5 billion figure for the full year. The announcement, which came along with its quarterly results that also beat expectations, took the stock lower in extended trading, but boosted sentiments around chipmakers Broadcom and Nvidia, which rallied in extended trading after leading the losses in Wednesday’s session.Alphabet will be leveraging its growth to build out data centers and infrastructure to capitalize on the demand in the AI age.

For the fourth quarter, Alphabet reported sales of $97.23 billion, excluding partner payoffs, higher than the $95.2 billion average estimate of analysts. Unlike Microsoft, where growth in the cloud business slowed, Google Cloud reported revenue of $17.7 billion, surpassing the analyst expectations of $16.2 billion.
Google is also supplying up to one million of its specialized AI chips to Anthropic, cementing its position as a key AI infrastructure supplier. Gemini will also supply the AI for Siri on Apple’s iPhones, with the number of monthly active users for the Gemini App crossing 750 million.Shares of Microsoft, which fell as much as 7.5% in extended trading, recovered those losses but are still down around 1.5%. The capex announcement led to a post-closing rally in shares of Broadcom, which gained as much as 6%, while Nvidia gained 2.5%.