Alphabet Records First-Ever Negative Free Cash Flow of $5.9B in Q2 Despite 24% Revenue Growth

Alphabet reported second-quarter revenue of $119.8 billion, up 24% year-over-year, but generated negative free cash flow of roughly $5.9 billion for the first time as a publicly traded company due to a dramatic surge in artificial intelligence infrastructure spending.

Google Cloud revenue surged 82% year-over-year to $24.8 billion, driven by demand for AI infrastructure and enterprise services. The company raised its full-year capital expenditure guidance to between $195 billion and $205 billion, up from its previous forecast of $180 billion to $190 billion, citing the need to expand AI data centers, networking infrastructure and custom chip deployments.