Dec 10 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google has appointed longtime executive Amin Vahdat as chief technologist for AI infrastructure, Semafor reported on Wednesday, citing an internal memo, as tech giants pour billions into the computing backbone needed to power artificial intelligence.
The move comes as the company ramps up spending on data centers and hardware to support artificial intelligence workloads, with capital expenditures expected to top $90 billion by the end of the year.
"This change establishes AI Infrastructure as a key focus area for the company," Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said in the memo, according to the report.
Google did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Tech giants are locked in a high-stakes contest for AI supremacy, where control of compute capacity is emerging as the ultimate differentiator.
Google, which designs its own tensor processing units, or TPUs, is betting that scale and in-house innovation will help it compete in a market where infrastructure is becoming as critical as algorithms.
Microsoft has invested heavily in data centers and partnerships with OpenAI, while Amazon is expanding its custom chip offerings for AWS.
The frenzy underscores how the AI boom is reshaping corporate priorities, with Google CEO Sundar Pichai emphasizing "disciplined spending" backed by a $155 billion cloud backlog.
(Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
