Google raises 2026 AI capex guidance to as much as $205 billion

Google raised its AI infrastructure spending guidance to as much as $205 billion, up from a prior estimate of up to $190 billion — the low end of the new range already exceeds the old high end. The revision unsettled investors partly because it suggests Google can't reliably forecast its own AI costs, at a point where it is spending more than it earns on the buildout.

Why it matters: This follows Google's already-reported $44.9 billion single-quarter AI capex, turning it into an escalating trend rather than a one-off figure — repeated upward revisions, not the raw size, are what rattle investors. It's a concrete data point in the broader AI-capex-bubble debate running alongside the data center power constraints and grid moratoriums covered previously.