Google Cloud exceeded market estimates with over $9.1 billion in revenue, making it the company’s most lucrative quarter ever. 

The Mountain View, California-based Google Cloud contributed around 11% to the $86 billion in revenue generated by parent firm Google in the fourth quarter of last year. LSEG data shows that Alphabet’s total revenue for the quarter ended December 31 was $86.3 billion, versus projections of $85.3 billion. 

The company’s fourth-quarter ad revenue increased to $65.5 billion from $59 billion the previous year, with retail sales serving as a bright spot.  Google Cloud invests billions of dollars every quarter to broaden the reach of its worldwide cloud infrastructure and services, the company has been losing money for years.

That changed in 2023 when $191 million in operating income was generated by Google Cloud, which for the first time in its history reported a profit in the first quarter of 2023. Google Cloud recorded a positive operational margin for the first time in its history for the full year 2023, with an operating margin of 5.2 percent.

For instance, Google reported an operating margin drop of 7.2 percent in 2022. It also disclosed an operating margin loss of 42.9 percent for the year 2020.  The United States is looking at Alphabet’s AI efforts, and Google is getting ready to launch an appeal of a big antitrust lawsuit that it lost. Alphabet earned $20.7 billion in profit for the fourth quarter. 

Google’s parent firm, Alphabet, is slowly moving toward a more diverse and healthful corporate model. That may not have been as clear on Wednesday when the company’s stock fell when it was disclosed that fourth-quarter advertising sales had fallen short of projections.  Amidst fluctuating U.S. economic indicators, Alphabet’s dominant subsidiaries, Google and YouTube, have seen competition for advertising funds from other digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Amazon.com. 

However, it’s making progress in kicking a lifelong addiction to the advertising industry. Microsoft’s Azure grew faster in the same period that Google Cloud’s revenue exceeded market expectations and growth resumed with a boost from AI. With $9.2 billion in sales for the most recent quarter, Google Cloud exceeded analyst projections of $8.9 billion. Although less than the 32% growth in the same quarter last year, that represented a re-acceleration of cloud revenue growth from the previous quarter to 25.7%. 

Such AI needs significant investments in data centers, servers, and research. Alphabet spent $11 billion in capital expenditures, the most in years, up 45% Alphabet.

With an eye toward enterprises throughout Africa, the search giant recently announced the creation of its first cloud region in Johannesburg, South Africa. The cloud region is available for customer use, according to a statement from Niral Patel, Director, Google Cloud, Africa. “We are pleased to announce that the Johannesburg cloud region in South Africa is now available for client use. All sizes of businesses on the continent can now access cloud services that are low-latency, secure, and high-performing.” 

It is anticipated that the Google Cloud region in Johannesburg will hasten the development of the African tech sector by giving businesses the means to grow, innovate, and contend in the international market.