Google’s 2026 AI Investment: Alphabet to Spend up to $185B on Data Cen – ATGBICS

How Google Stunned Wall Street?

In late 2025, Google announces multi-billion-dollar AI and cloud investments across Europe, including the UK, Germany and Belgium. The projects involve existing data centre expansion as well as new facilities and offices with aims to boost national economies, create thousands of jobs and strengthen Europe’s role in the AI ecosystem.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai recently revealed that the parent company of Google plans to spend between $175 billion and $185 billion in capital expenditures (capex) in 2026, surprising both analysts and shareholders. The projected sum is nearly double that of 2025, highlighting the company’s commitment to ramping up its spending on AI infrastructure expansion around the globe. These huge investments are driving the competition with other tech giants such as OpenAI, Meta and Microsoft who are also spending massive amounts year on year to maintain market leadership.

Google has said the increased capex will help to accelerate economic growth and AI integration across all industries by expanding local data centres and cloud resources. Greater regional capacity is expected to improve access to AI services and reduce latency for enterprise and public sector users worldwide.

Google’s flagship AI model, Gemini, is already one of the most powerful AI tools in the industry and is heavily integrated with Google products and platforms.

In response to criticism surrounding its own AI performance, Apple recently announced that they will be utilising Gemini to enhance AI features like Siri, potentially giving Google access to their global user base.

UK

At the opening of a new data centre in Hertfordshire, England, Google announced a £5 billion investment for UK AI, focussing on new research and engineering facilities linked to Google DeepMind – their AI research division known for work in science and healthcare.

Germany

In November 2025, €5.5 billion was announced to expand Germany’s cloud and AI infrastructure through 2029. This includes plans for a new data centre in Dietzenbach, fresh investments in the existing Hanau campus and office expansions in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, supported by an extended partnership with carbon-free energy company Engie. Google estimates this will add roughly €1 billion per year to German GDP while supporting 9,000 jobs annually over the four-year period.

Belgium

Google also pledged $5.8 billion to Belgium over the next two years to expand its existing data centre in Saint-Ghislain, alongside renewable energy partnerships to supply the site with clean energy.

These strategic expansions come amid growing regional investments from competitors. For example, Microsoft has announced $10 billion plans for Portugal’s infrastructure, also backed by renewable energy partnerships.

As AI demand rapidly grows, so does investment and competition among key players. 2026 is set to be a big year for the AI industry in terms of investment and expansion, as Alphabet’s huge capex pledge has demonstrated.

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