Alphabet Raises 2026 Capex Outlook to as Much as $205 Billion as AI Cloud Demand Grows

Alphabet increases its 2026 spending outlook

Alphabet has raised its forecast for 2026 capital expenditure to between $195 billion and $205 billion, according to Reuters. The news agency reported that Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi updated the outlook during Alphabet’s July 22 earnings call after Google posted stronger-than-expected cloud revenue growth.

Capital expenditure is a broad measure of investment in long-lived business assets. In Alphabet’s case, the higher forecast points to continued spending on the computing capacity and related infrastructure required for its cloud operations and AI products.

The figure should not be interpreted as an allocation to one AI service or consumer device category. Alphabet has not detailed how much of the projected spending will go to individual Gemini products, Google Cloud offerings or hardware initiatives.

Google Cloud cites AI infrastructure demand

In its Q2 2026 earnings remarks, Google said Google Cloud revenue grew 82% year over year. The company attributed the performance to demand for AI infrastructure and AI solutions.

Google also said that its model APIs, Google Cloud products and Gemini were among its supply-constrained growth drivers. That description indicates that available computing capacity is an important factor in the company’s ability to meet customer demand.

The spending outlook therefore reflects more than interest in consumer-facing AI features. Google is investing in the shared infrastructure used to operate its own services and to sell cloud computing, AI tools and model access to organizations.

Reuters’ report links the revised forecast directly to the cloud business, where AI-related workloads have become an increasingly important source of demand. Google’s earnings comments do not establish how quickly new capacity will come online, but they provide the company’s stated rationale for expanding investment.

Gemini for Home comes to lower-cost Walmart devices

Separately, Google announced that Walmart’s onn home-security products will be compatible with Gemini for Home. The devices include the onn Indoor Camera Wired, listed by Google at $22.96, and a wired doorbell listed at $49.86.

Those prices show that Google is bringing Gemini compatibility to relatively low-cost connected-home hardware. They do not, however, support a claim that the company has introduced Gemini on a Walmart camera priced at $35.

The hardware announcement illustrates the range of products Google is connecting to Gemini, from cloud and developer services to home devices. Still, the available disclosures do not tie any specific portion of Alphabet’s $195 billion-to-$205 billion capital-expenditure outlook to Walmart onn products or Gemini for Home.

A broad infrastructure bet

Alphabet’s revised forecast is evidence of the scale of investment it expects to require through 2026 as demand for AI computing and cloud services grows. Google’s reported cloud revenue increase and its comments on supply constraints suggest the company sees infrastructure availability as central to sustaining that growth.

What remains unclear is the eventual return on that spending, as well as the distribution of investment across Google Cloud, internal AI services and consumer products. The disclosed information supports a narrower conclusion: Alphabet is planning substantially higher infrastructure investment while broadening Gemini’s presence across business and consumer offerings.