At Cloud Next 2026, Google unveiled a $750 million investment fund to support partners in developing agentic AI solutions, marking the largest single partner funding from any major cloud provider. Key partners include Accenture, which has developed over 450 AI agents; Deloitte, with its biggest investment to date; KPMG, which pledged $100 million; PwC with a $400 million commitment; and NTT DATA, dedicating 5,000 engineers to the initiative. These collaborations are expected to generate significant returns, with partners potentially earning $7.05 for every dollar invested.
At Cloud Next 2026, Sundar Pichai revealed Google Cloud's impressive $70 billion in annual revenue, marking a 48% growth. The company is backed by a $240 billion order backlog that doubled in just one year, alongside planned capital expenditures of $175-185 billion. The Gemini app boasts 750 million monthly users, with AI Overviews reaching two billion, and the Gemini API handling 85 billion requests. Pichai also outlined a strategic vision to evolve Search into an agent manager, driving further innovation.
At Cloud Next 2026, Google revealed its vision for Chrome as an intelligent workplace platform. New features include Auto Browse for autonomous multi-step task completion, Chrome Skills to save AI workflows, and a persistent Gemini side panel integrated with Google Workspace. Additionally, on-device AI APIs through Gemini Nano enhance performance and privacy. For businesses, Chrome Enterprise Premium ($6/user/month) offers advanced security like real-time data loss prevention, data masking, and AI governance.
VAST Data recently closed a $1 billion Series F funding round, boosting its valuation to $30 billion—more than triple its previous $9.1 billion valuation. The round was co-led by Drive Capital and Access Industries, with notable investments from Nvidia, Fidelity, and NEA. Over $500 million of this funding is secondary capital. VAST Data has achieved $4 billion in cumulative bookings and has over $500 million in committed annual recurring revenue (ARR).
SpaceX’s recent confidential S-1 filing ahead of its IPO reveals concerns about the feasibility of its orbital AI data center initiative. The document highlights the technical challenges and unproven nature of the technology, suggesting the project may not become commercially viable. This admission contrasts sharply with Elon Musk’s optimistic statement in January, where he described space-based AI data centers as an obvious and achievable step within a few years. The disclosure arrives as SpaceX aims for a valuation of $1.75 trillion, underscoring the ambitious scale of the company’s plans and the uncertainties involved.
GitHub has temporarily halted new registrations for its Copilot Pro, Pro+, and Student plans due to escalating costs driven by agentic AI workflows. These automated coding processes are generating expenses that surpass the flat monthly fees users pay, prompting GitHub to enforce usage limits and reconsider its pricing model. This move marks a shift away from unlimited AI support at fixed subscription rates, reflecting broader challenges in sustaining such services economically.
During a CNBC interview on Tuesday, former President Trump indicated that a deal with AI firm Anthropic might be on the horizon. This follows a recent White House meeting where Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei discussed the company's Mythos AI model with top officials including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Meanwhile, the Pentagon's designation of Anthropic as a national security risk remains unresolved in the courts.
New York-based startup Coral has developed AI technology capable of reading handwritten fax forms, handling prior authorizations, and completing patient intake processes in under five minutes — all without requiring healthcare providers to alter their current workflows. Within its first year, Coral has generated several million dollars in revenue and aims to quadruple its growth by the end of 2026.
The widespread claim that AI has rendered traditional software obsolete benefits a select few, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Companies poised to thrive in the coming years are those that resist idolizing hyperscale tech giants. It's essential to look beyond the hype and recognize that SaaS continues to hold strong value in the tech landscape.
Google is establishing one of the AI sector’s most varied custom chip ecosystems by collaborating with four design partners—Broadcom, MediaTek, Marvell, and Intel. Their plan includes a timeline from the currently shipping Ironwood TPU chips to the upcoming TPU v8 chips, expected from TSMC’s 2nm process by late 2027. This carefully crafted strategy aims to strengthen Google’s position in AI inference hardware, as detailed in advance of the Google Cloud Next event.
