Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has become the fourth company to hit $4 trillion alongside Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple, in part thanks to a partnership with Apple that will see Google’s Gemini AI power Siri as Apple struggles to keep up in the AI race.
It is a move Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is likely feeling the impact of, as Apple had previously partnered with OpenAI to hand off more complex Siri tasks to ChatGPT.
Compared to this time last year, Alphabet’s market cap was much lower, sitting closer to the $2 to $3 trillion range. That is still an enormous figure, but $4 trillion is a far more compelling number for shareholders.
The future of Alphabet is AI
With Apple basing its AI models on Google’s Gemini to power parts of Siri, Apple will now rely on Google’s technology, at least until it is able to build a full solution of its own.
It is this deal that helped push Alphabet past the $4 trillion market cap, putting Gemini at the centre of the company and making it one of its most important assets.
It is not the only driver behind Alphabet’s rise, though. Google Cloud is also playing a major role, with the company selling computing power and AI tools to businesses, and revenue jumping 34% year over year.
There is now a $155 billion backlog of sales that customers have already agreed to pay Google in the future for cloud services, which gives investors confidence because it shows long term demand is locked in.
Advertising remains the most important part of Alphabet’s business despite the AI boom, as it is still where most of the company’s money comes from, helping to fund further investment into AI.
I do wonder if Microsoft was ever seriously taken into consideration with Copilot to power Apple's Siri, despite its own AI tools relying on ChatGPT and Claude. It is a strange future to imagine, and one that likely was never even considered, especially as Copilot has struggled to gain traction and Microsoft has already scaled back its internal AI sales targets.
Do you think Alphabet’s Gemini deal with Apple gives Google a lasting advantage in the AI race, or is this just the start of another competitive cycle? Let us know in the comments and be sure to take part in our poll below:
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