Google burning through cash with spiralling AI costs
Alphabet's capital spending was $36bn in the first quarter of this year.Ashkanazi said on the call that when it comes to AI, "the demand still outpaces that investment". "What I see with what you can do with frontier capabilities, there is still a lot of work left to do to translate that into experiences for our users. So that looks like extraordinary opportunities with extraordinary returns."Rachel Winter, a partner at the wealth management firm Killik & Co, said there was a bit of surprise among investors about how much Google was spending."They said that this year the total they will spend will be between $195bn and $205bn.
- ▪Alphabet's capital spending was $36bn in the first quarter of this year.Ashkanazi said on the call that when it comes to AI, "the demand still outpaces that investment".
- ▪"What I see with what you can do with frontier capabilities, there is still a lot of work left to do to translate that into experiences for our users.
- ▪So that looks like extraordinary opportunities with extraordinary returns."Rachel Winter, a partner at the wealth management firm Killik & Co, said there was a bit of surprise among investors about how much Google was spending."They said th
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Google burning through cash with spiralling AI costsImage source, ReutersImage caption, Google and its parent company Alphabet have spent huge amounts on AIByKali HaysTechnology reporterPublished22 July 2026Updated 1 hour agoGoogle parent Alphabet saw its business continue to grow in recent months, yet growing spending on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure put its leftover cash into negative territory.The company's free cash flow, the cash it maintained after paying for operations and investments, came in at negative $5.9bn (£4.3bn) for the first time in at least a decade, according to its past financial records.Alphabet's spending on AI is now expected to hit as much as $205bn this year, an increase from $190bn, as major tech companies race to build around a new wave of the…
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