Alphabet has $1 trillion in future bills for its AI buildout, its filing shows

Alphabet has committed to about $1.05 trillion in future payments that do not appear on its balance sheet, for technical infrastructure, energy, content licenses and data center leases, according to the quarterly report the Google parent filed with the SEC on Thursday, October 29. So far this year it has also borrowed $85.2 billion, raised $61.9 billion by selling common and preferred stock, and bought back none of its shares.

The bills ahead

The filing lists $924.4 billion in purchase commitments. Of that, $802.1 billion covers multiyear deals for technical infrastructure, inventory, energy contracts and content licenses that Alphabet expects to fulfill mostly by 2031, and $213.4 billion of the total is due within the next 12 months. On top of that, Alphabet has signed $130.5 billion of leases, mainly for data centers and energy projects, that start between 2026 and 2031.

How Alphabet is raising money

For the first nine months of 2026, the 10-Q shows:

• $85.2 billion raised from new debt, after costs, against $8.9 billion repaid. In the third quarter alone it sold $25.1 billion of U.S. dollar notes plus notes in Australian dollars.
• $42.9 billion from selling common stock, including a $20.5 billion public offering and a $10.0 billion private sale to a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, both in June.
• $19.0 billion from mandatory convertible preferred stock, which pays a 6.25% dividend.

Alphabet has bought back none of its own shares so far in 2026, after spending $39.8 billion on buybacks in the first nine months of 2025. It has $69.5 billion left under its buyback authorization. It is still paying its common dividend, $2.7 billion in the third quarter.

Cash in, cash out

Free cash flow, the cash left after spending on property and equipment, turned negative in the spring and stayed there.

Those numbers are from Alphabet's third-quarter earnings release. Edit USA covered the quarter's revenue and profit on Wednesday.