Google Search helps power Alphabet’s $96.4 billion quarter as AI push gains speed

Alphabet reported a strong second quarter, highlighting the resilience of its core advertising business as it accelerates its artificial intelligence push. The company’s flagship Google Search unit delivered double-digit revenue growth, helping drive a 14 percent year-over-year increase in overall revenue to $96.43 billion. Net income rose 19 percent to $28.2 billion for the quarter that ended in June.

Read more: Sundar Pichai says Google Search's AI Overviews now has over 2 billion monthly users

Read more: YouTube's ad revenue climbs 13% to $9.8 billion in Q2, fueling Google’s growth

Google’s advertising revenue climbed to $71.3 billion from $64.6 billion a year earlier, a 10.4 percent increase, with YouTube ad revenue jumping 13 percent to $9.8 billion. Compared to the previous quarter, ad revenue was up 6.6 percent, matching the sequential growth in overall revenue, while profit rose 2.17 percent.

Search, Google’s largest business, benefited from the company’s aggressive rollout of AI features, including AI Mode, which launched in the United States and India, and AI Overviews, now available in more than 200 countries and territories. Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s chief executive, emphasized that these additions are driving increased user engagement.

“AI Overviews now has over 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories and 40 languages,” Pichai said, noting that the features are prompting users to search more frequently, especially among younger audiences.

Pichai described the quarter as a reflection of the company’s strong positioning in artificial intelligence. “We had a standout quarter, with robust growth across the company. We are leading at the frontier of AI and shipping at an incredible pace. AI is positively impacting every part of the business, driving strong momentum. Search delivered double-digit revenue growth, and our new features, like AI Overviews and AI Mode, are performing well,” he said.

Beyond Search, Alphabet continues to see strength across its portfolio. YouTube’s ad and subscription businesses expanded, while Shorts, its short-form video offering, now generates as much revenue per watch hour in the United States as traditional instream ads. “In some countries, it now even exceeds instream's rate,” Pichai said.

Alphabet’s cloud division also posted gains, with Google Cloud revenues rising 32 percent to $13.6 billion, driven by demand for AI products and infrastructure. “Nearly all gen AI unicorns use Google Cloud,” Pichai said, as the division’s annual revenue run rate now exceeds $50 billion, with new Google Cloud Platform customers increasing nearly 28 percent from the previous quarter.

Alphabet is ramping up its AI investments, planning capital expenditures of approximately $85 billion in 2025 to support its infrastructure and meet growing demand for generative AI solutions. “We operate the leading global network of AI optimized data centers and cloud regions,” Pichai said.

Google’s Gemini models, which Pichai described as providing “industry-leading performance in nearly every major benchmark,” are now integrated across products, including Workspace and the Gemini App, which has over 450 million monthly active users.

The company’s autonomous vehicle unit, Waymo, also marked progress, expanding its driverless operations in Austin, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and launching in Atlanta last month. “The Waymo Driver has now autonomously driven over 100 million miles on public roads,” Mr. Pichai said.

Alphabet’s quarterly results reflect the strength of its diversified business, anchored by Search and underpinned by its AI advancements. As Mr. Pichai noted, “This is all possible because of the long-term investments we've made in our differentiated, full-stack approach to AI. This spans AI infrastructure; world-class research, models and tooling; and our products and platforms that bring AI to people all over the world.”