Alphabet’s Google revenue jumps 22%, Google Cloud crosses $20 billion milestone

In a significant financial report released on April 29, Alphabet's Google announced an impressive 22% increase in total revenue for the first quarter of 2026, reaching $109.9 billion. This remarkable growth is primarily attributed to heightened enterprise demand for artificial intelligence products, cloud infrastructure, and generative AI services. Notably, Google Cloud achieved a monumental milestone by surpassing the $20 billion revenue mark for the first time, boasting a staggering 63% growth. This surge underscores the accelerating trend of AI-driven cloud adoption across various sectors. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, expressed optimism, stating, "2026 is off to a terrific start." The earnings report highlighted that the robust quarter was significantly bolstered by AI-enhanced functionalities in Google Search, which experienced a 19% rise in revenue. Additionally, the company’s backlog nearly doubled, now exceeding $460 billion. Pichai emphasized, "These outstanding results are built on our differentiated, full-stack approach. Our first-party models, like Gemini, are now processing over 16 billion tokens per minute via direct API use by our customers, a 60% increase from the previous quarter. It’s thrilling to witness how our AI investments are translating into value for our users, customers, and the business." Pivotal to this growth was the Gemini app, which saw paid subscriptions reach an impressive 350 million across its various services. The Gemini Enterprise segment reported a remarkable 40% increase in paid active users quarter-on-quarter, reflecting strong adoption within the enterprise sector. In a further showcase of innovation, Waymo, Google's self-driving car division, reported completing over 500,000 fully autonomous rides weekly. Additionally, Google has begun selling its proprietary AI chips, known as Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), directly to select customers for the first time, aiming to support AI workloads and machine learning tasks. Previously, these chips were utilized solely for internal projects, including the Gemini AI model. While the company anticipates modest revenue from these TPU sales this year, Pichai sees this move as a strategic entry into the expansive AI hardware market, despite ongoing challenges related to computing power and chip supply driven by soaring AI demand.