Alphabet 2026 Capex Guidance: $195B–$205B (Raised July 22)

Alphabet 2026 capex guidance

Alphabet now expects $195 billion to $205 billion of capital expenditure in 2026, more than double the $91.4 billion invested in 2025 at the midpoint. The range has been raised twice: $175 billion to $185 billion in February, $180 billion to $190 billion in April, and $195 billion to $205 billion on July 22, driven mainly by delivering capacity faster to meet demand. Q2 2026 capex was $44.9 billion, about 60% servers and 40% data centers and networking, and management expects 2027 capex to rise significantly. The spending supports Google Cloud, DeepMind, Search, advertising systems and other businesses.

What the number includes

Alphabet defines capital investment primarily around technical infrastructure and office facilities. The timing of supplier payments can move reported quarterly capex, and the company does not isolate one audited AI-capex line. Management expects just over half of 2026 machine-learning compute to be allocated to Google Cloud, but that allocation is a compute measure rather than a direct capex split.

• Servers and machine-learning compute for Google Cloud, DeepMind and first-party services.
• Long-duration data centers and networking equipment needed to deliver that compute.
• Infrastructure supporting Search, YouTube, advertising systems and selected Other Bets alongside external Cloud demand.

How investors should read the spending

Alphabet's disclosed 60/40 infrastructure mix creates a useful bridge between near-term server deployment and long-lived construction. Servers may translate into capacity and depreciation sooner, while buildings and networks create a longer placement-in-service schedule. Investors should compare Cloud growth and backlog with the accelerating depreciation and data-center operating costs management has already flagged.