#google 【$205 billion in spending raises concerns as Google drops more than 7%】

After Google (GOOG.O) raised its forecast for this year’s capital expenditures from the previous $190 billion to between $195 billion and $205 billion, its stock price fell more than 7% on Thursday. This once again highlights that the full costs of the Silicon Valley AI competition are still largely unknown. Google is the first among major technology companies to release quarterly earnings reports; Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon will report next week.

These four companies previously disclosed in April that they would cumulatively invest up to $725 billion this year in AI development. If Google is any guide, this figure will further increase by the end of next week. Even so, the returns on these investments remain unclear. Thomas Montero, a senior analyst at an investment firm, said: “Google’s larger-scale spending plan ‘is not satisfactory.’ Add to that the continuously rising interest-rate environment and persistent supply-and-demand tightness facing AI infrastructure, and the notion that the company will always rely on cash flow to finance itself may be gradually losing its appeal.”