Google Cloud, the enterprise AI and cloud unit of Alphabet Inc., has reported strong growth, with revenue topping $20 billion for the period, a 63% increase from a year earlier.
In the first quarter of 2026, Google’s cloud growth was driven by strong performance in Google Cloud Platform (GCP), which grew faster than the overall Google Cloud division. The division includes a range of services, including infrastructure, data analytics, AI and machine learning tools, as well as Google Workspace.
CEO Sundar Pichai told analysts on the Q1 2026 earnings call on Wednesday that this growth came from “strong demand” for Gemini Enterprise and its AI solutions, and pointed to an increased demand for infrastructure, including TPU hardware and data centers.
READ: Google in the talks with Marvell for AI chip design (April 20, 2026)
According to TechCrunch, the largest driver of cloud growth, with products built on Google’s GenAI models growing nearly 800% year-over-year. Google Gemini Enterprise also grew 40% quarter-over-quarter, the company said, and AI token growth via its API grew to 16 billion tokens per minute, up from 10 billion in the fourth quarter.
Pichai also mentioned other cloud milestones, including doubling the number of $100 million to $1 billion deals year-over-year, with the company signing multiple “billion-dollar-plus” deals. He also said that customers outpaced their initial commitments by 45% quarter-over-quarter.
Pichai warned that there were constraints to this growth, noting that Google Cloud’s backlog had doubled in the quarter to $462 billion. However, he spun this as a positive, saying it showed how Google Cloud was different from other competitors.
READ: Google AI hub to scale India’s AI infrastructure and community impact (April 29, 2026)
“Obviously, we are compute constrained in the near-term,” Pichai said. “And as an example, our cloud revenue would have been higher if we were able to meet that demand. So we are working through that moment, and we are investing, but we have a robust, long-range planning framework…we see extraordinary opportunities ahead,” he added.
All four of the major U.S. big tech giants that reported results on Wednesday — Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft — signaled that artificial intelligence will not slow down.
Alphabet shares jumped more than 6% in early trading on Thursday, while Meta stock fell nearly 10%. Amazon shares were down about 1%, while those of Microsoft dipped 3%. Amazon and Microsoft both reported faster growth in their cloud-computing revenue in the March quarter at 28% and 40%, respectively.