Google’s parent company, Alphabet, said Monday it plans to raise $80 billion to pay for the massive AI infrastructure it plans to build. After selling that amount of stock, Alphabet will use the funds to pay for “general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures for AI infrastructure and global computing expansion,” the company said in a statement.
Part of the plan includes selling $10 billion worth of stock to Berkshire Hathaway, a large global holding company previously led by Warren Buffett.
“The company is seeing growing demand for AI solutions and services from businesses and consumers at a level that exceeds the company’s available supply,” Alphabet said in a statement. “By scaling up our investments, the company seeks to expand its underlying infrastructure to support significant growth opportunities in the future.”
The company added that the equity plan represents a way to “fund investments in a balanced manner while maintaining a healthy balance sheet.”
Like other tech giants, Google has announced plans to invest heavily in computing this year, which will be used to power a slew of new AI services. At Google I/O last month, CEO Sundar Pichai said he expects the company to spend $180 billion to $190 billion in capital expenditures before the end of the year. Big tech companies, including Google, are expected to spend $700 billion on AI investments this year.
