Alphabet just told the world it plans to spend between $175 billion and $190 billion on capital expenditures in 2026. For context, that’s roughly double the $90 billion it spent in 2025. The reason is almost comically simple: Google literally cannot build AI infrastructure fast enough to keep up with demand.
CEO Sundar Pichai has flagged persistent compute constraints throughout 2026, meaning the company’s AI ambitions are currently bottlenecked by physical reality.
The numbers behind the AI arms race
Alphabet isn’t just dipping into its existing cash pile to fund this expansion. The company has initiated equity raises totaling between $80 billion and $85 billion, a financial maneuver that underscores how capital-intensive this race has become.
One particularly notable piece of that funding puzzle: a $10 billion commitment from Berkshire Hathaway in June 2026.
