Alphabet just shattered the $100 billion quarterly revenue barrier for the first time, posting $102.35 billion in Q3 results that sent shares up 5% after hours. The milestone comes as Google Cloud accelerated to 35% growth amid surging AI demand, while the company dramatically increased its 2025 infrastructure spending plans to nearly $93 billion - a clear signal that the AI boom is reshaping Big Tech's investment priorities.
Alphabet just rewrote the playbook for Big Tech earnings. The Google parent company smashed through the $100 billion quarterly revenue ceiling for the first time, posting $102.35 billion in Q3 results that beat Wall Street estimates by $2.5 billion and sent shares soaring 5% in after-hours trading.
The earnings report reads like a love letter to the AI revolution. Google Cloud revenue surged 35% to $15.15 billion, crushing analyst expectations of $14.74 billion, while the division's backlog swelled to a staggering $155 billion. "We continue to drive strong growth in new businesses. Google Cloud accelerated, ending the quarter with $155 billion in backlog," CEO Sundar Pichai said in the earnings release.
But here's where things get really interesting - Alphabet is betting big on this AI momentum. The company just cranked up its 2025 capital expenditure guidance to $91-93 billion, a massive jump from the $85 billion range it projected earlier this year. That's nearly a 10% increase in just months, with most of those billions flowing into data centers and technical infrastructure to handle what the company calls a "backlog of customer requests."
The spending spree tells the real story here. Google isn't just riding the AI wave - it's building the infrastructure to dominate it. Earlier this year, the company already bumped its capex expectations from $75 billion to $85 billion. Now it's pushing even higher, signaling that demand for AI services is outpacing even their aggressive projections.
Google's search business continues printing money, generating $56.56 billion in revenue - up 15% from last year. That's the engine funding this massive AI expansion, with overall advertising revenue hitting $74.18 billion, up from $65.85 billion in Q3 2024. YouTube advertising specifically brought in $10.26 billion, beating the $10.01 billion analysts expected.
The numbers paint a picture of a company firing on all cylinders while simultaneously preparing for an AI-driven future. Net income jumped to $34.97 billion, or $2.87 per share, compared to $26.3 billion in the same quarter last year. That's despite absorbing a $3.45 billion EU antitrust fine in September for anti-competitive practices in its advertising technology business.
