During most of the last two years, Google had been talked about waryly on Wall Street. There were doubts about whether the company that used to shape the age of the internet had responded fast enough to the artificial intelligence revolution of which it gave birth. This week this story became different. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, transiently exceeded a market valuation of 4 trillion, which made it one of the very few companies to now dominate the worldwide technology economy. The milestone was not a matter of figures on a screen. It was a more general reevaluation of the investors, the competitors, and the industry itself on the role of Google in the future of AI.
The catalyst of the ramp up was a fresh belief in the artificial intelligence strategy of Google. The shares of Alphabet have soared to record levels following the assurance that the next generation of AI models by Apple will be developed on the Google Gemini technology as part of a multi-year deal. This was not just a business victory to Google. It was a symbolic moment. Apple has long been regarded as highly autonomous regarding the essential technologies, and its move to rely on Gemini has been an important message that the AI stack developed by Google, is currently regarded as mature, scaled, and suitable at the very top of the industry.
The market reacted swiftly. Class A shares of Alphabet soared to a high of 1.7 percent in the session at one point pushing the valuation of the firm above the 4 trillion mark before leveling marginally below the end of the day. Nonetheless, it did depend on the psychological effect of crossing that line. Alphabet is now the fourth company to ever achieve such a range of valuation, and it is a very exclusive club that includes Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. In the case of Google, which has traditionally been packaged as a company that is trailing in the generative AI race, the moment was a recalibration to the outside world.
What is especially remarkable about this change is the speed with which the mood has shifted. In individual years, the Alphabet stock shot by about 65 percent in 2025, beating the majority of its competitors in the so-called Magnificent Seven, the select few mega-cap technology stocks controlling the index of world markets. Previously held misgivings that Google had lost an early lead in AI have gradually been eclipsed. Rather investors have now started looking at the internal reorganisation, the internal prioritisation, and new methods of monetising its huge technological base of the company.
Google Cloud has been a major component of that re-evaluation. After being virtually dismissed as the third player after Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure in terms of nearness, the cloud division has secretly solidified into a formidable growth engine. After closely coupling AI services based on the Gemini with the cloud-based offerings, Google has transformed the advanced machine learning out of a research demonstration into a source of revenue. It was a change that aided in convincing markets that the AI ambitions of Google were not a mere experiment, but a commercial activity that was feasible at scale.
The unexpected allies have also proved the development of the company. Berkshire Hathaway, which is led by Warren Buffett, made a rare investment in Alphabet that sent a strong signal to long-term investors. Buffett is also well known to be picky with technology stocks preferring lasting business models to hype. His support implied he believed not only in the current performance of Google, but its capacity to maintain innovation without harming the main businesses of advertising and its services.
This newfound respect has been echoed in the industrial quarters. According to Phil Blancato, the CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, it is the sole name in the Magnificent 7 stocks which has amazed us all during the past 12 months and they are making inroads more than their typical model. He said, “What I would give the company credit is innovation, that is what they have done to distinguish them among many other companies in the recent days and this is what you are witnessing in earnings data. These comments represent an increasingly common feeling that Google is no longer necessarily basing its business on search advertising alone, but is in the act of reinventing itself.
The other issue that creates confidence is the response to the latest AI releases by Google. Developers and enterprise users have given positive reviews of the Gemini 3 model. Its success has added pressure on its competitors, especially OpenAI, the rollout of GPT-5 of which did not get a warm reception by some users. Although the process of AI development is rather dynamic and unpredictable, perception does count. Today, Gemini is regarded as a believable, high-tech alternative when customers are becoming more conscious of real-life performance but not drama.
Google is extending its AI capabilities beyond software through alliances. It is claimed that Samsung Electronics has announced that it will launch twice the quantity of mobile phones powered by Gemini this year, bringing Google technology further into the consumer hardware environment. Together with the Apple deal, these moves make Google not only an AI supplier, but also as a platform underneath the many platforms that billions of individuals engage with everyday.
The bigger picture is also to be considered. In November 2021, Alphabet surpassed Apple to become the second most valuable company in the world in terms of market capitalization since 2019. That shift is shifting expectations of growth. Although Apple is still a strong brand as a consumer product, enterprise AI, cloud infrastructure, and cross-industry applications are the perceived strengths of Google that are currently far beyond its original search business.
Nevertheless, the novel is not simple. There is also strong regulatory oversight especially in the United States and Europe where Google is having a hard time with anti-trust litigations. The AI, in itself, comes with new ethical, legal and operational risks, starting with the data governance up to model transparency. Competition is ruthless, and the current technological advantage can be lost in a short time in case of a lack of ideas.
However, the situation that occurred around the time of the Alphabet 4 trillion valuation indicates that Google has come back to its strategy. The company has not aimed at pursuing headlines as it has prioritized inculcation of AI into products, partnership, and platforms that already touch everyday lives. That seems to be a grounded approach to investors. To the industry, this is a good indication that Google is not merely responding to the age of AI, but also trying to define it.
