Alphabet Gears Up for AI Infrastructure War with $40 Billion ATM Stock Sale

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) attached to its June 4 Form 8-K an opinion of counsel from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP confirming the legality and full payment of its issued Class A and Class C shares in connection with an at-the-market (ATM) program to sell up to $40 billion—approximately ₩55 trillion—of those shares at prevailing market prices under an effective shelf registration statement.

John Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer, reported on a Form 4 that, pursuant to a pre-established Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, he sold a portion of his Class C shares on the open market through a trust at the end of June, then effected an internal transfer of shares between the trust and himself.

Separately, board member Frances Arnold disclosed a small adjustment to her holdings by disposing of several dozen Class C shares under a planned sale at the end of May.

In early June, Alphabet priced an equity and related-securities offering of approximately $84.75 billion—equivalent to the mid-₩100 trillion range—to secure funding for AI infrastructure investments, and it has completed preparations to launch its up to $40 billion ATM share-sale program in the third quarter.

With these proceeds, the company has signaled capital expenditures of $180 billion to $190 billion in 2026 alone—equivalent to the high-₩200 trillion range. However, the prospect of substantial AI infrastructure spending, the departure of key research personnel, and an ongoing U.S. federal antitrust lawsuit have weighed on both its share price and investor sentiment.

As a leading U.S. big-tech firm driving the global digital-advertising market through Google Search and YouTube, Alphabet is also cultivating Google Cloud and Gemini-based generative AI services as its next growth pillars.

Amid intensifying generative-AI competition, major U.S. technology companies—including Alphabet—are significantly expanding investments in infrastructure such as data centers and AI semiconductors. Market observers expect industry-wide AI-related capital expenditures in 2026 alone to reach hundreds of trillions of Korean won (hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars).