Google CEO defends massive AI spends as essential foundation for long-term value, growth

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday defended massive AI spends as essential foundation for long term value and growth.

Pichai was speaking at the AI Impact Summit 2026.

Fielding questions on how CEOs can overcome boardroom scepticism regarding AI returns, Pichai urged a long-term view, calling the current era an 'extraordinary' and 'transformational' moment.

"I think we are investing to meet that moment. In some of the contexts Dennis (CEO of Google DeepMind) has spoken about, this is the industrial revolution, but 10 times faster and 10 times larger," Pichai said.

Drawing parallels with foundational infrastructure bets such as the US railroad expansion and the National Highway System, the Google CEO said such leveraged investments historically unlocked massive growth and long-term value, and AI should be viewed through a similar lens.

"At Google, I think we're fortunate that we've been focused on this technology for over a decade. And be it search, YouTube, the cloud, the emerging businesses like Waymo and Isomorphic Labs (both subsidiaries of Alphabet), I think they're all getting better and growing based on this one technology underneath, so we can generate a return there," he said.

Pichai announced a new subsea cable initiative to boost AI connectivity between India, the US and other locations, and outlined a slew of partnerships around scaling AI and workforce readiness.

He said the recently announced $15-billion AI hub at Vizag in Andhra Pradesh will house a gigawatt-scale compute facility and an international subsea cable gateway.

Pichai further described AI as ushering in an era of hyper progress, with the potential to unlock new scientific discoveries and help emerging economies leapfrog stages of development, and said no technology has made him "dream bigger" than artificial intelligence.

Pichai asserted digital divide cannot be allowed to become AI divide and added, "that means investing in computing infra and connectivity".

AI will undeniably reshape workforce, automating some roles, evolving others and creating entirely new careers, he said.

(With agency inputs)