FILE PHOTO: Google CEO Sundar Pichai arrives for a meeting with international investors in IA at the Elysee Palace as part of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit in Paris, France, February 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/ File Photo
Las Vegas (Reuters) - Alphabet reiterated on Wednesday it would spend about $75 billion this year to build out data center capacity, doubling down on its generative AI bet even as the payoff remains unclear and a global trade war threatens to raise costs.
The investment would fund the chips and servers needed to burnish its core offerings, including Search, while supporting the development of AI services such as its Gemini model, CEO Sundar Pichai said at the annual conference for Google's cloud computing unit.
"The opportunity with AI is as big as it gets," he said, adding the investments would also benefit the company's enterprise customers.
"Getting advances into the hands of both consumers and enterprises is something we are really focused on."
Alphabet's shares were up more than 7% in afternoon trading amid a big upward swing in markets after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs. The stock had tumbled 8% since April 2, when Trump announced his sweeping tariff plans.
Alphabet had outlined plans for its $75 billion outlay in February. The target was 29% higher than what Wall Street analysts had expected at the time.
Big Tech companies are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars to build artificial intelligence infrastructure in the country, but investors have been getting increasingly restless over the massive investments, demanding better returns.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru and Kenrick Cai in Las Vegas; Editing by Alan Barona)
