Google CEO: Capital expenditures in 2026 will reach $185 billion; ramping up investment in the era of AI agents

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced at the Google Cloud Next event held in Las Vegas on April 22 that Google plans to invest between $175 billion and $185 billion in capital expenditures in 2026 to build the infrastructure needed for its autonomous AI agent, up from $31 billion in 2022.

2026 Capital Expenditure Plan and Investment in Agent Infrastructure

According to Sundar Pichai’s public remarks at the Google Cloud Next event, Google’s 2026 capital expenditure plan ranges from $175 billion to $185 billion, mainly aimed at building the AI infrastructure for what it calls the “Agentic Era.” At the event, Pichai said: “As we move into the Agentic Era, we’re taking this work to a new level. We’re investing heavily, both now and in the future.”

Pichai also noted that Google has already deployed AI agent systems internally: “Today, nearly 75% of Google’s new code is generated by AI and approved by engineers for review, up from 50% last fall. We’re transforming toward truly intelligent workflows.” He also emphasized that AI-generated code still needs to be reviewed and approved by human engineers.

AI Agent Applications: Security Automation and Threat Mitigation

According to Pichai’s remarks at the Google Cloud Next event, Google has deployed AI agents to security operations centers (SOCs) to handle large volumes of unstructured threat reports. Pichai quoted: “Today, our security operations center agents can automatically categorize tens of thousands of unstructured threat reports each month, speeding up the extraction of critical intelligence and filtering out irrelevant information, which reduces threat mitigation time by over 90%.”

$750 Million Partner Fund and Progress on Cloud Next Business Partnerships

According to Google’s announcement at the Cloud Next event, Google has set up a $750 million fund for its 120k Google Cloud partners to support these partners in building and deploying AI agent products, covering engineering support, early access to Gemini models, and incentive measures for companies such as Accenture, Deloitte, and McKinsey.

On the same day as the event, Citigroup announced the launch of Citi Sky, an AI wealth management assistant for U.S. customers; Thinking Machines Lab announced it will expand its use of Google Cloud’s AI supercomputer to accelerate AI research and model training.

At the event, Pichai said: “There’s one thing that’s very clear: we’ve firmly entered the Gemini agent era. The focus of discussion has shifted from ‘Can we build an agent?’ to ‘How do we manage tens of thousands of agents?’”

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the size of the 2026 capital expenditure announced by the Google CEO?

According to Sundar Pichai’s public remarks at the Google Cloud Next event on April 22, Google plans to invest $175 billion to $185 billion in capital expenditures in 2026, up significantly from $31 billion in 2022, mainly to build the infrastructure needed for AI agents.

What proportion of Google’s AI-generated code is it currently, and does it need human review?

According to disclosures by Sundar Pichai at the Cloud Next event, currently about 75% of Google’s new code is generated by AI, further increasing from 50% in the fall of 2025; Pichai emphasized that all AI-generated code still needs to be reviewed and approved by human engineers.

What major partnerships did Google announce at the Cloud Next event?

According to the Google Cloud Next event announcement, the major partnerships include: setting up a $750 million partner fund to support 120k Google Cloud partners; Citigroup announcing the launch of the AI wealth management assistant Citi Sky; Thinking Machines Lab announcing it will expand its use of Google Cloud’s AI supercomputer.