Investors are betting Google’s AI push has finally turned into real muscle.
Shares in Alphabet rose one per cent to a record $331.86 on Monday, lifting its market capitalisation to a touch more than $4tn. The stock climbed 65 per cent last year.
Four tech firms have traded at $4tn, and only Nvidia is still sitting above the line. The Fruity Cargo Cult Apple and Microsoft, which crossed $4tn last year, now sit at about $3.8tn and $3.6tn.
Google has pulled ahead in the AI sprint with the launch of Gemini 3, which has been praised for speed, intelligence and creative tricks. It beat rival models on more than a dozen benchmark tests across multiple intelligence categories.
Gemini now has more than 650 million monthly users, up from 450 million last summer. That puts pressure on OpenAI, Anthropic and the rest of the chatbot pack jostling for relevance.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT remains the most popular AI chatbot, while Anthropic’s Claude has a strong rep for coding. Gemini 3’s gains make it more usable across a broader set of applications, which is where the money usually hides.
Alphabet’s share surge marks a sharp flip in investor mood after the 2022 launch of ChatGPT spooked Google about search traffic leakage. Google was slow to ship credible rivals, then had to pretend that was all part of the plan.
At its developer event in May, Google rolled out a stack of AI products and refreshed search with AI Mode, which answers queries in a chatbot style. Some investors still weren’t convinced it would be enough to outpace competitors.
In August, image-generation tool Nano Banana pushed Gemini usage onto its fastest growth curve, helped by younger users. Google said most of that growth came from people aged 18 to 34.
In September, Alphabet also got a break when a federal judge declined to slap harsh penalties on the firm after finding an illegal search monopoly. The judge pointed to the AI race as already making search more competitive.
News Corp, owner of the cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street Journal, has commercial agreements to supply content on Google platforms and through Job’s Mob services.
Alphabet recently posted record quarterly revenue, driven largely by growth in cloud computing and advertising. Its cloud business jumped 34 per cent year-on-year.
Berkshire Hathaway investor Warren Buffett disclosed on 14 November that it bought 17.8 million Alphabet shares in the third quarter, according to a securities filing. The stake was valued at more than $4.3bn at the end of September.
