Google justifies its massive AI spending with a booming cloud business

谷歌以蓬勃发展的云业务证明其巨额人工智能支出的合理性

Alphabet investors have very publicly worried that the company’s massive AI spending isn’t worth the money. With the company’s latest earnings report, those investors should be able to relax a little. The takeaway: Google’s cloud business — driven largely by enterprise AI adoption — is booming. Alphabet 的投资者此前曾公开表示担忧，认为该公司在人工智能上的巨额支出并不划算。随着公司最新财报的发布，这些投资者或许可以稍稍宽心了。核心结论是：在企业级人工智能应用需求的推动下，谷歌的云业务正在蓬勃发展。

The search giant saw Google Cloud revenue spike 82% from where it was this time last year, climbing to $24.8 billion. That’s well above last quarter’s generous year-over-year growth, which showed a revenue jump of 63% to $20 billion — and it handily beats what Wall Street analysts expected for this quarter’s growth (the expectation was $22.46 billion). 这家搜索巨头的谷歌云（Google Cloud）营收较去年同期激增 82%，达到 248 亿美元。这一增速远高于上一季度 63% 的同比增长率（当时营收为 200 亿美元），且轻松超过了华尔街分析师对本季度 224.6 亿美元的预期。

Those cloud gains were driven largely by enterprise AI solutions and enterprise AI infrastructure adoption, the company said, while also noting that its backlog of cloud contracting work — that is, work that it hasn’t yet converted into revenue — had climbed to $514 billion. 谷歌表示，这些云业务的增长主要得益于企业级人工智能解决方案和基础设施的采用。同时，公司还指出，其云合同积压订单（即尚未转化为营收的工作量）已攀升至 5140 亿美元。

The company’s profit hit $112.1 billion, which is a massive jump from this time last year, when the company reported $28.1 billion in profit, the company’s earnings report shows. Meanwhile, Alphabet’s overall revenue grew 24% year-over-year during the past quarter to $119.8 billion. The company also saw Google Services revenue jump 15% to $94.5 billion. 财报显示，公司利润达到 1121 亿美元，较去年同期的 281 亿美元实现了大幅增长。与此同时，Alphabet 上季度的总营收同比增长 24%，达到 1198 亿美元。此外，谷歌服务（Google Services）的营收也增长了 15%，达到 945 亿美元。

“Our AI investments are redefining what’s possible across every part of our business,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai during Wednesday’s earnings call. “We have exciting momentum across the board.” “我们的人工智能投资正在重新定义我们业务各个领域的可能性，”谷歌首席执行官桑达尔·皮查伊（Sundar Pichai）在周三的财报电话会议上表示，“我们在各个方面都拥有令人振奋的发展势头。”

More people are also adopting Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot, as the app currently enjoys 950 million monthly active users, the company said. In Q4 of 2025, Google reported that the app had 750 million users. 谷歌还表示，越来越多的人开始使用其人工智能聊天机器人 Gemini，该应用目前的月活跃用户已达 9.5 亿。而在 2025 年第四季度，谷歌报告该应用的用户数为 7.5 亿。

It’s worth noting that spiking revenue isn’t unusual for Google. This marks the company’s 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth. But even by that standard, this quarter represents a particularly bountiful period for the tech giant. 值得注意的是，营收激增对谷歌来说并不罕见。这标志着该公司连续第 12 个季度实现两位数的营收增长。但即便以这一标准衡量，本季度对这家科技巨头而言也是一个格外丰收的时期。

Alphabet’s spending is still hefty, with its capital expenditures — the money it spends building data centers, buying chips, and expanding infrastructure — estimated to be between $180 billion and $190 billion for the year — a fact not lost on analysts during Wednesday’s earnings call. Several pressed Pichai on when, and how much, those investments will pay off. Alphabet 的支出依然庞大，其资本支出（用于建设数据中心、购买芯片和扩展基础设施的资金）预计全年将在 1800 亿至 1900 亿美元之间——这一点在周三的财报电话会议上引起了分析师的关注。几位分析师追问皮查伊，这些投资何时能产生回报，以及回报规模如何。

“I think our compute capacity investments in ’27,” he said. “We are seeing strong demand indicators, including long-term deals,” he continued. “I think, if anything, the dynamics look healthier than where we were about a year ago, so that’s what gives us the confidence to undertake those investments,” he said. “我认为我们的计算能力投资将在 2027 年（产生回报），”他说道。“我们看到了强劲的需求指标，包括长期合同，”他继续补充道，“我认为，如果说有什么变化的话，那就是目前的市场动态看起来比一年前更健康，这正是我们有信心进行这些投资的原因。”