Posted 1/31/2024, 4:00:00 AM
Alphabet Earnings: Server Lifespan Extension Boosts Income, AI Investments Cut into Profits
- Alphabet banked $3 billion by extending the lifespan of its servers and networking hardware from 3-4 years to 6 years
- This reduced 2023 depreciation costs by $3.9 billion and increased net income by $3 billion
- But Alphabet spent $11 billion on new servers and data centers in Q4 to support AI services
- Revenue hit $86.3 billion in Q4, up from $76 billion last year, with $9.2 billion from Google Cloud
- Alphabet shares fell despite strong earnings, but AI like generative models may help advertisers and boost revenue