Google Cloud just landed two of the hottest AI coding startups - unicorns Lovable and Windsurf - as primary customers, marking another win in its aggressive push against AWS and Microsoft Azure. The deals underscore how AI startups are becoming the secret weapon behind Google's fastest-growing business line, which hit a $50 billion annual run rate and secured $58 billion in future commitments.
Google just scored two major wins that signal how the cloud wars are shifting toward AI dominance. The tech giant announced Thursday it's landed fast-rising AI coding unicorns Lovable and Windsurf as primary cloud customers, the latest sign that AI startups are becoming Google's not-so-secret weapon against Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
The timing couldn't be better for Google Cloud, which has been playing catch-up for years. The division just hit an annual run rate of $50 billion - a massive jump from $33.1 billion in 2023 - and cloud chief Thomas Kurian revealed this week that the unit has lined up $58 billion in new revenue commitments over the next two years. That's the kind of growth that makes investors sit up and take notice.
But here's what's really driving those numbers: AI startups are flocking to Google in unprecedented numbers. The company now works with nine out of the 10 leading AI labs, including Safe Superintelligence and even competitor OpenAI. More telling: 60% of the world's generative AI startups are now running on Google's infrastructure, with a 20% spike in new AI startup customers just in the past year.
The strategy is paying off in ways that go beyond pure revenue. Both Lovable and Windsurf - which was recently acquired by Cognition - are using Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro models to power their "vibe coding" platforms. That creates a virtuous cycle where Google's AI models get better training data while customers get deeper integration with the cloud platform.
