Alphabet Capex Hits $51.4B as Google Cloud Revenue Jumps 103% in Q3

Alphabet's capex, measured as purchases of property and equipment, reached $51.4 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from $24.0 billion a year earlier, as Google Cloud revenue rose 103% to $30.7 billion, the company said in its Q3 2026 earnings release on Oct. 28.

Alphabet's capital spending was more than double the year-earlier figure and above the $44.9 billion Alphabet reported for the second quarter. By Voltgrid's calculation, quarterly capex equalled about 40% of the $127.6 billion in total revenue, which rose 25%.

Alphabet generated $42.3 billion of cash from operations in the quarter, so spending outran operating cash flow. Free cash flow was negative $9.1 billion, though it stayed positive at $19.7 billion over the trailing 12 months, according to the release.

No Buybacks, More Stock Issued

Alphabet repurchased no stock in the third quarter, against $11.5 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. It also made no repurchases in the second quarter. The release mentions no new repurchase authorization. It declared a dividend of $0.22 per share, payable Dec. 14.

Instead, Alphabet sold stock through its at-the-market program during the quarter: 12 million Class A shares for $4.3 billion and 24 million Class C shares for $8.1 billion in net proceeds. About $27.6 billion remained available under the program at quarter end.

Google Cloud Revenue Doubles

Google Cloud revenue reached $30.7 billion, from $15.2 billion a year earlier. The spending feeds capacity such as the A5X instances that Google Cloud and NVIDIA said on Oct. 21 will reach general availability on Vera Rubin NVL72 systems in November. CEO Sundar Pichai said in the release that Alphabet is "now on a half-trillion dollar revenue run rate" and that it sees "strong demand for our TPU systems across a wide range of customers."

For data-center builders, the number that matters is the pace: $51.4 billion of purchases of property and equipment in one quarter, by one company, sits against the broader forecasts Voltgrid covered when BofA projected data center spending reaching $2.1 trillion by 2028.

What is not confirmed yet

The release does not state 2026 capex guidance, any 2027 figure or the Google Cloud backlog. Those usually come on the earnings call, and Voltgrid has not reviewed the call. In an Alphabet filing dated June 1, the company gave 2026 capex of $180-$190 billion and said 2027 would "significantly increase" from there; that was before the second-quarter report.

The same June filing put Google Cloud backlog at more than $460 billion at the end of the first quarter. The current backlog and any revised capex range are the figures to check against the call.