We need to talk about what just happened with Alphabet.
I’ve been digging through the Q3 2025 earnings report and spending way too much time in the comment sections on Reddit and Hacker News so you don't have to, and there is one clear signal cutting through the noise: The Google "death spiral" narrative is officially dead.
Alphabet just posted their first-ever 100-billion-dollar quarter. That is 102 billion dollars in revenue in just three months, up 16% year-over-year.
But if you look past the headline number, there are three specific things in this report that the community is obsessing over.
First, let’s look at the AI infrastructure—this is the "valuable found" for anyone tracking the tech stack. Sundar Pichai dropped a metric that caught a lot of attention on X: their first-party models, like Gemini, are now processing 7 billion tokens per minute. To put that in perspective, discussions on Hacker News are pointing out that this volume validates the shift from "experimental AI" to actual enterprise utility. The API usage is massive. Google Cloud revenue jumped 34% to over 15 billion. This is the accelerated growth everyone was waiting for; it proves the enterprise migration to GCP for generative AI is actually happening, not just forecasted.
Second, we have to talk about the spending. This is the controversial part.
There is a massive number buried in the guidance: Alphabet expects 2025 capital expenditures to hit between 91 and 93 billion dollars.
On r/investing, the sentiment is mixed. Some are calling this a terrifying "arms race" spend just to keep up with OpenAI and Meta. But the counter-argument gaining traction is that Google has turned into a capital-efficient monster. Even with that massive spend, and even excluding a 3.5 billion dollar fine from the European Commission, their operating margins are sitting at nearly 34%.
Speaking of that fine—that’s point number three.
The European Commission slapped Google with a 3.5 billion dollar antitrust fine this quarter. Two years ago, news like that would have tanked the stock. Today? The discussion threads are treating it as a "cost of doing business." The fact that they can absorb a multi-billion dollar hit and still grow Net Income by 33% is frankly ridiculous.
So, here is the bottom line takeaway for the community:
The fear that search would vanish overnight due to chatbots hasn't materialized. "Search & Other" revenue is up double digits. They have 650 million monthly active users on the Gemini App. They are successfully managing the transition from traditional search to an AI-first model without breaking their money printer.
If you’re building on Google’s stack, the infrastructure is scaling fast. If you’re an investor, that 93 billion dollar CapEx bill is hefty, but right now, it looks like it’s buying them an insurmountable moat.
Let me know what you think—is 93 billion in infrastructure spending sustainable, or is this a bubble? catch you in the next update.
We need to talk about what just happened with Alphabet.
I've been digging through the Q3 2025 earnings
report and spending way too much time in
the comment sections on Reddit and Hacker News,
don't have to,
and there is one clear signal cutting through the
The Google death spiral narrative is officially dead.
Alphabet just posted their first ever $100 billion dollar quarter.
That is $102 billion in revenue in just three months,
up 16% year year.
But if you look past the headline number,
there are three specific things in this
that the community is obsessing over.
First, let's look at the AI infrastructure.
This is valuable found for anyone tracking the tech stack.
Sundar Pichai dropped a metric that caught
a lot of attention on X.
Their first-party models like Gemini are now
processing 7 billion tokens per minute.
To put that in perspective,
discussions on Hacker News are pointing out
that this volume validates the shift from
experimental AI to actual enterprise utility.
The API usage is massive.
Google Cloud revenue jumped 34% to over $15 billion.
This is the accelerated growth everyone was waiting for.
It proves the enterprise migration to GCP
for generative AI is actually happening,
not just forecasted.
Second, we have to talk about the spending.
This controversial part.
There is a massive number buried in the guidance.
Alphabet expects 2,025 to hit between $91 and $93 billion.
On our investing, the sentiment is mixed.
Some are calling this a terrifying arms race spend
just to keep up with open AI and meta.
But the counter-argument gaining traction is
has turned into a capital-efficient monster.
Even with that massive spend,
and even excluding a $3.5 from the European Commission.
Their operating margins are sitting at nearly 34%.
Speaking of that fine, that's point number three.
The European Commission slapped Google with
a $3.5 billion antitrust fine this quarter.
Two years ago,
news like that would have tanked the stock.
Today,
the discussion threads are treating it
as a cost of doing business.
The fact that they can absorb a
multi-billion dollar hit and still grow net
income by 33% is frankly ridiculous.
So here is the bottom line takeaway for the community.
The fear that search would vanish
overnight due to chatbots hasn't materialized.
Search and other revenue is up double digits.
They have 650 million monthly active
users on the Gemini app.
They are successfully managing the transition from traditional search
to an AI-first model without breaking their money printer.
If you're building on Google's stack,
the infrastructure is scaling fast.
If investor, that $93 billion capital expenditure bill is hefty.
But right now, it looks buying them an insurmountable moat.
Let me know what you think.
Is $93 billion in infrastructure spending sustainable,
or is this a bubble?
Catch you in the next update.