Google Strengthens Lead In AI Platform Monetization

Alphabet reported strong Q4 results, with Google Search up 17% year-over-year, Google Cloud growing 48% and a $240 billion cloud backlog, and set 2026 cap-ex guidance of $180 billion. The analyst argues Alphabet's diversified platform positions Google as the global AI leader, and predicts competition in inference GPUs (Broadcom XPUs, Google GPUs) could enable Google to overtake Nvidia by end-2027.