Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, exceeded expectations with its second-quarter earnings, driven by strong performance in search, cloud, and AI. The strong results has prompted the tech company to boost capital spending.
Consolidated revenues reached USD 96.4 billion—up 14 percent year-on-year—highlighting momentum across Google’s core businesses. Google Services, including Search & Other, YouTube ads, subscriptions, platforms, and devices, generated USD 82.5 billion in revenue, a 12 percent increase.
Google Cloud saw exceptional growth, with revenues rising 32 percent to USD 13.6 billion. This growth was fueled by its Cloud Platform, AI infrastructure, and Generative AI solutions.
Operating income climbed 14 percent, and operating margins held steady at 32.4 percent. Net income for the quarter rose 19 percent, with earnings per share up 22 percent to USD 2.31.
Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s chief executive officer, said in a press statement characterized the second quarter as “a standout quarter, with robust growth across the company.” He said the company’s deliberate push in the artificial intelligence frontier is paying off handsomely.
“AI is positively impacting every part of the business, driving strong momentum. Search delivered double-digit revenue growth, and our new features, like AI Overviews and AI Mode, are performing well” said Pichai. “We continue to see strong performance in YouTube as well as subscriptions offerings.”
Encouraged by Cloud’s performance and a strong backlog—surpassing USD 50 billion in annual revenue run-rate—Alphabet has raised its capital expenditure target to USD 85 billion for the year, up from an earlier plan of USD 75 billion.
