Alphabet Surpasses OpenAI in AI Growth; Q4 AI-Driven Revenue Surge

February 5, 2026 — Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) is shifting from perceived lag to leadership in AI, citing strong Gemini 3 adoption and broad revenue gains. CEO Sundar Pichai reported 750 million monthly active users in Gemini by the end of Q4 2025, up from 650 million in the prior period, and 8 million paid licenses for its enterprise Gemini. The company projects 2026 capital expenditures of $175B–$185B, up to double 2025, as AI infrastructure begins to deliver returns, with cloud revenue rising 48% in Q4. Shares initially fell on the guidance but recovered to trade flat after the session, outperforming Microsoft and Oracle, which face headwinds from OpenAI’s expanding reliance on its platform. Alphabet is now among the top-$4 trillion market-cap companies, benefiting from a broader favoring of firms demonstrating AI-driven financial returns over heavy OpenAI exposure.