Alphabet’s AI Strategy Fuels 15% Revenue Surge Despite Antitrust Threats

• Google has beaten analyst expectations for a third consecutive quarter.
• The search engine giant’s revenue surged, fueled by continued demand for AI products and services.
• Google is embroiled in several legal battles.

Alphabet reported better-than-expected growth on Tuesday. The tech giant’s AI bets helped the company’s revenue surge by 15% this quarter.

Google’s parent company beat analyst expectations for a third consecutive quarter despite being embroiled in major legal battles across the industry.

Alphabet Surges

Alphabet reported $88.27 billion in revenue for the past quarter, representing an overall growth of 15%.

The company reported on Tuesday that cloud services revenue, which includes Google’s AI products, rose 35%.

The continued interest in AI across almost every industry has helped Google’s cloud arm become one of its fastest-growing sectors.

In the latest earnings report , CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company’s long-term focus and investment in AI was “paying off” with consumers and partners.

Alphabet also reported a 10% increase in advertising revenue, with Pichai highlighting YouTube ads as a significant success.

By embedding generative AI models like Gemini into Google Search, Google claims to have improved search accuracy and increased user engagement.

Google’s Illegal Search Monopoly

Alphabet’s success follows a year of legal battles centered on Google’s search dominance.

A tumultuous 12 months for the company reached a critical peak in August when the Department of Justice (DOJ) won its landmark case challenging Google’s search dominance.

The U.S. judge ruled that the company acted illegally to stifle its competition and maintain a monopoly on online search.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta wrote in his ruling.

Now, Google is bracing itself for the aftermath of the ruling, which could see the tech giant’s parts split up and its high-profile partnerships with other tech giants taken apart.

More Antitrust Lawsuits

The landmark loss against the DOJ is just one of the legal battles Google currently faces.

Google suffered a significant loss to Epic Games in December 2023. Epic Games sued the search engine giant in 2020, accusing the company of using deceptive tactics to make its app store dominant over rivals.

The jury decided that the search giant had operated an illegal monopoly. In October 2024, Google requested a temporary pause on the Judge’s injunction.

In September, the DOJ launched an antitrust lawsuit against Google, this time accusing the tech giant of having an illegal monopoly over online advertising.

Microsoft recently publicly attacked Google, accusing the company of conducting a series of attacks and using shady tactics.

“It is funding – directly and indirectly – various industry commentators and academics to attack Microsoft and author “studies” that can be cited to discredit us,” Rima Alaily, Microsoft lawyer, wrote in an open letter.

Despite Google’s recent success, the outcome of these antitrust cases can significantly shape the company’s future business strategies, potentially opening the market for greater competition.