Overview
- Sundar Pichai said the AI shift is opening more chances for Alphabet to invest in startups and that the company is actively deploying capital.
- Alphabet is writing large checks off its balance sheet rather than relying only on GV and CapitalG, following a playbook used by Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon.
- Alphabet’s 2015 $900 million SpaceX investment could be worth around $100 billion based on the xAI merger valuation, with a confidential IPO filing reportedly targeting about $1.75 trillion.
- Google has invested more than $3 billion in Anthropic and now holds roughly 14%, with the AI lab’s valuation reported at about $380 billion as of the last funding round.
- Waymo raised $16 billion at a $126 billion valuation, and Pichai said he would have invested more earlier if the unit had been mature enough, underscoring a focus on timing and return on invested capital.