It’s a dizzying number. At the start of the week, Alphabet touched for the first time a valuation of 4,000 billion dollars on Wall Street. In the process, the group overtook Apple, becoming the second most valuable company in the world. Only Nvidia does better, having itself crossed this threshold before climbing even higher.
Gemini, the right bet at the right time
For Alphabet, this handover is not anecdotal. It marks a change in mood among stock marketers, after several years during which Google sometimes gave the impression of running behind its rivals in the field of artificial intelligence.
The trigger came from Apple. The manufacturer has confirmed that it has chosen Google’s Gemini model to power the redesign of the Siri assistant. The financial details of the agreement remain confidential, but the stakes are colossal in terms of visibility. “ After extensive evaluation, we determined that Google’s technology provided the strongest foundation for our foundation models “, Apple said in an official statement.
It’s hard to dream of a better showcase. Gemini, whose latest generation is generally well received, thus offers itself a central place in the Apple ecosystem. Enough to reinforce the impression that Google has regained control, while OpenAI left some users wanting more with GPT-5, which was less significant than expected.
The Stock Exchange was not mistaken. Since the start of last year, Alphabet stock has jumped around 65%, a performance superior to that of the other tech heavyweights grouped under the label of the “Magnificent Seven”. Gemini doesn’t stop at iPhones. Samsung plans to increase the number of devices integrating AI functions based on Gemini, which will further strengthen the diffusion of the model.
Another centerpiece of this return to grace: Google Cloud. Long considered the poor relation compared to AWS and Azure, the service has established itself as a growth engine in its own right. In the third quarter, its turnover increased by 34%, with an order backlog reaching $155 billion. Alphabet also found an unexpected growth driver by leasing its own AI chips, initially developed for internal use, to external customers. Meta reportedly plans to spend billions to use these chips in its data centers starting in 2027.
Meanwhile, Google’s advertising machine – search and YouTube in the lead – continues to run without too many shocks, despite economic uncertainties and ever more aggressive competition… particularly from other AI players.
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