Alphabet plans to spend $75 billion on AI data centers this year, amid US tariffs

Alphabet has committed to spending $75 billion on building out its data center capacity, even with all of the hoopla surrounding US tariffs.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the $75B investment would buy the chips and build the servers needed to increase Alphabet (Google) and its core offerings, including search, as well as continued support in the development of AI services including its Gemini AI model. Pichai said: "The opportunity with AI is as big as it gets" as a surprise appearance was made at Google's annual conference for its cloud computing unit.

When asked about the potential for US tariffs to increase the cost of building out its data centers, Google Cloud infrastructure unit vice president and general manager, Sachin Gupta, said that the cost of importing hardware might increase but customer demand continued to necessitate the increased investment, he told Reuters: "We're all processing what's happening with tariffs".

AI represents one of two key areas, joining cybersecurity, where enterprises have continued on with investments even with the macroeconomic uncertainty reports Reuters, with Chiraj Mehta, principal analyst at Constellation Research adding: "Early success from customers who have chosen Google Cloud as their preferred AI platform is reinforcing the case for continued aggressive investment".

Reuters reports that even companies like Papa John's -- yeah, the pizza maker -- are using AI in their business, as well as Turbo Tax creator Intuit. Paper John's chief digital officer, Kevin Vasconi, said that he didn't see any slowdown in his company's spending on AI, where he said: "I can get a better return on an AI-based project than I can with any other project right now".