Alphabet is moving ever closer to reclaiming the title of the world’s most valuable company, squeezing Nvidia’s lead thanks to investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence. The holding company that controls Google is enjoying a powerful re-rating in the stock market, driven above all by the growth of its cloud business and the expansion of AI-linked services.
According to the latest market estimates, Alphabet has reached a value of roughly $4.7 trillion, sharply narrowing the gap with Nvidia, which still sits just above $5 trillion after touching new all-time highs in recent months. If the trend continues, Google could return to the top of the global market-cap ranking for the first time in more than a decade.
What has changed investor sentiment is the conviction that Alphabet is no longer just a dominant force in online advertising, but one of the protagonists of the new artificial-intelligence race. The market now sees Google as both a cloud-infrastructure supplier for businesses and developers, and a direct competitor to Nvidia in the custom AI-chip segment.
Google’s new strength and the AI bet
The first quarter of 2026 marked a turning point for Alphabet. Revenue from Google Cloud grew well above analyst expectations, with an acceleration that took Wall Street by surprise and outpaced major rivals such as Microsoft and Amazon.
Particularly notable was the improvement in cloud profitability, with operating margins markedly higher thanks to rising business demand for AI services. More and more companies are now using Google’s infrastructure to develop and run artificial-intelligence models.
During the earnings presentation, chief executive Sundar Pichai emphasized that “artificial intelligence is driving the rapid growth of the cloud business.” The remark reinforced investor confidence in the company’s ability to translate the enormous AI investment cycle into concrete profits.
Google is also trying to reduce its dependence on Nvidia chips by developing its own AI processors. The company has already started selling some of these solutions directly to corporate customers, entering competition in one of the most strategic segments of the entire tech sector.
The reach of the Google ecosystem also represents a crucial competitive advantage. The integration of generative AI into Search, Android and Gemini lets Alphabet deploy new technology globally at a speed few rivals can match.
Nvidia is still the leader, but the first doubts are emerging
Despite Alphabet’s comeback, Nvidia continues to dominate the artificial-intelligence hardware market. Its GPUs remain essential for training the leading AI models used by OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta and Google itself.
Yet in recent months Nvidia’s stock has slowed down compared to the extraordinary pace of 2025. Some investors are beginning to question the sustainability of the AI race and the real ability of companies in the sector to generate revenue large enough to justify such elevated investment.
The concerns intensified after reports that OpenAI may have missed some internal growth targets on users and revenue. At the same time, several AI companies continue to post very large operating losses while pouring billions into model development.
Another point of attention is the financial commitments made by the major cloud operators. According to some accounts, Anthropic has signed expensive multi-year agreements with Google Cloud for access to infrastructure and AI chips. If demand growth slows, the risk is being left with unused capacity and hard-to-absorb costs.
For now, though, the market continues to reward Alphabet. The group’s shares have risen significantly more than Nvidia’s since the start of the year, a signal that investors increasingly believe Google will be the main winner of the new artificial-intelligence era.
Editor’s note
This article was originally published in Italian on money.it by Giorgia Paccione on May 11, 2026 as «Dopo 10 anni Google potrebbe tornare a essere la prima società al mondo per capitalizzazione». It has been translated and adapted for an international audience by the Money.it International desk.
