Google Reaches $2 Trillion Milestone

Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., has reached a significant milestone in its journey by achieving a $2 trillion market capitalization on Friday. As of now, Google is the fourth most valuable publicly traded company globally, following Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft, the latter boasting a market cap that just exceeds $3 trillion.

Alphabet's flirtation with the two-trillion-dollar club isn't new. The tech giant briefly touched this mark in November 2021 and earlier this month, but managed to close above it for the first time on Friday. This achievement followed Alphabet's release of its impressive first-quarter earnings report last Thursday.

The revenue surge exceeded analysts' expectations, mainly due to Google search engine performance. In addition to this success story, Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s CEO, pointed out another critical contributing factor: Google Cloud services powered by their AI model Gemini.

Pichai emphasized their recent efforts during an investor call, stating, "In the cloud, we have announced more than 1,000 new products and features over the past eight months." Notably, at the Google Cloud Next event, several customers, including global brands like Bayer, Cintas, Mercedes-Benz, and Walmart, spoke about how they benefited from using generative AI solutions provided by Google Cloud.

Furthermore, he noted that since 2016, when they adopted an "AI-first" approach, they are well positioned to take advantage of upcoming AI innovations, providing diverse opportunities for growth.

To further sweeten things up for investors, Alphabet also declared plans to expand its stock repurchase program by $70 billion, showing continued confidence in its business prospects and commitment towards returning capital to shareholders.

Despite registering such remarkable achievements, Alphabet faced some challenges along the way, especially regarding its Artificial Intelligence (AI) offerings. After facing criticism for being too awake, they had paused their image generator. However, these hurdles haven't deterred them from betting big on AI as one of their major growth drivers.

Earlier this month, they announced plans to develop Axion, their own central processing unit (CPU). This CPU will facilitate the training of complex AI models by providing a more efficient and effective means to process large amounts of data.

While Alphabet didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment, one thing is certain: with its continuous innovation investments in AI and strategic business moves, Alphabet continues to consolidate its position as a global tech powerhouse. Despite facing some criticism, it has effectively leveraged advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and cloud computing, among others, not only ensuring its growth but also transforming the way businesses operate globally.

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