Alphabet’s Gemini delay, spending worries loom over earnings

Alphabet faces heightened scrutiny from investors as a delay in the launch of a model key to its AI ambitions adds to worries ​over the payoff from massive data-centre spending, months after raising expectations with a ‌blockbuster quarter for cloud sales.

The cloud business has benefited from growing deals for Google's custom AI chip business, including multi-billion-dollar agreements with ​Meta Platforms and Anthropic.

Analysts have said Google's advantage in the AI race lies in its ownership of a large consumer distribution network, on top of its AI ​models, cloud infrastructure and ​custom silicon.