\n<\/p>\n
Google Cloud, the business under parent company Alphabet that provides enterprise AI solutions, had a blowout first quarter, with revenues topping $20 billion for the time, a 63% increase from the same period last year. However, investors were concerned about the constraints surrounding the business and how Google decides to allocate cloud capacity.<\/p>\n
In the first quarter of 2026, the company said its cloud growth was driven by strong performance in the Google Cloud Platform, which grew at a higher rate than the Google Cloud division\u2019s overall revenue growth. (The Cloud division includes a variety of services like infrastructure, data analytics, AI\/ML tools, and Google Workspace.)<\/p>\n
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told analysts on the Q1 2026 earnings call on Wednesday that this growth came from \u201cstrong demand\u201d for Gemini Enterprise and its AI solutions, and pointed to an increased demand for infrastructure, including TPU hardware and data centers.<\/p>\n
AI solutions were the largest driver of cloud growth, with products built on Google\u2019s genAI models growing nearly 800% year-over-year. Google Gemini Enterprise also grew 40% quarter-over-quarter, the company said, and AI token growth via its API grew to 16 billion tokens per minute, up from 10 billion in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Pichai noted other cloud milestones, including new customer acquisition doubling year-over year, deal momentum doubling the number of $100 million to $1 billion deals year-over-year, with the company signing multiple \u201cbillion-dollar-plus\u201d deals. Customers also outpaced their initial commitments by 45% quarter-over-quarter, he said. <\/p>\n
Still, the exec warned, there were constraints to this growth, noting that Google Cloud\u2019s backlog had doubled in the quarter to $462 billion. He spun this as a positive for the company, noting that it demonstrated how Google Cloud was different from other competitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we are compute constrained in the in the near-term,\u201d Pichai said. \u201cAnd as an example, our cloud revenue would have been higher if we were able to meet that demand. So we are working through that moment, and we are investing, but we have a robust, long-range planning framework\u2026we see extraordinary opportunities ahead,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Techcrunch event<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> The company expects to work through 50% of the backlog over the next \u201c24 months,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n Much of the company\u2019s revenue potential comes from providing infrastructure through the cloud, and, with some customers, the direct sale of TPU hardware as well. Pichai told investors that Google takes an approach that considers the return on capital investment (ROIC), which helps it to continue to properly invest in the \u201ccutting edge.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n