BusinessFebruary 5, 2026

Why Alphabet Is Raising Its AI Spending

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② Start Lesson

Key Vocabulary

capital expenditure/ˌkæp.ɪ.təl ˌɛksˈpɛn.dɪ.tʃər/

money a company spends to buy buildings, machines, or equipment

"The company increased its capital expenditure to buy servers."

infrastructure/ˌɪn.frəˈstrʌk.tʃər/

basic physical systems and structures needed for a service

"They build data centers as part of their infrastructure."

profit/ˈprɒf.ɪt/

money left after a company pays its costs

"Last quarter the firm made a large profit."

Listening

Why Alphabet Is Raising Its AI Spending

Alphabet, the company that owns Google, plans to spend much more this year. It plans to invest between $175 billion and $185 billion to build data centers and buy servers for new artificial intelligence services. This money will support Google Cloud and other AI tools.

Last quarter the company made $34.45 billion in profit, about a 30 percent increase from a year earlier. Google Cloud revenue grew 48% to $17.7 billion in the quarter. After the announcement, the company’s share price fell in after-hours trading.

85 words

Quiz

1. How much will Alphabet invest this year?

2. How much profit did the company report last quarter?

3. What grew 48% to $17.7 billion?

Reading Practice

Read the article from the Listening section aloud. Your AI teacher will give you pronunciation feedback.

Discussion

Do you use cloud services like Google Cloud? How often do you use them?

Have you ever noticed AI features in apps you use? What were they?

What do you think when a big company says it will spend much more money?