Google Pushes Future Spending Commitments to $811 Billion

Google’s contracted future spending commitments increased by nearly $500 billion in three months and reached $811 billion at the end of June, Bloomberg reported Thursday (July 23).

The company disclosed these obligations in a quarterly filing, separately from parent company Alphabet’s capital expenditure budget, according to the report.

Alphabet said Wednesday (July 22) that it expects its capital expenditures to total between $195 billion and $205 billion this year, the report said.

The $811 billion in commitments include purchases the company has committed to making under supply agreements and open purchase orders. They include chips, data centers, electricity, inventory, content licenses and other resources, per the report.

The report attributed the leap in commitments to Alphabet securing resources for its AI infrastructure.

PYMNTS reported Wednesday that during Alphabet’s second-quarter earnings call, the company announced that it raised its 2026 capital spending forecast from the previous $180 billion to $190 billion to the new forecast of $195 billion to $205 billion.

Management said during the call that the increase reflects faster deployment of computing capacity, while third-party capacity will temporarily supplement Google’s infrastructure.

Asked about returns on additional computing investment in 2027, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai pointed to long-term customer agreements, renewals and continuing demand.

“We are seeing strong demand indicators, including long-term deals,” Pichai said. “If anything, the dynamics look healthier than where we were about a year ago, and so that’s what gives us the confident to undertake those investments.”

Reuters reported Thursday that Alphabet’s soaring AI spending resulted in the company’s first cash burn on record, as it burned $5.9 billion in the second quarter.

The report added that the company’s cloud unit, which rents out AI computing power, delivered record growth of 82%.

Following Alphabet’s disclosure, investors will be watching next week’s earnings reports from Microsoft, Meta and Amazon to see how the AI-related payoffs compare to the outlays, the report said.

It was reported July 10 that the five companies spending the most on AI data centers in the United States doubled their debt load over the past five years to finance their efforts. In total, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle added about $350 billion to their debt obligations.