The Nordic Link: Alphabet's Swedish Data Center, $10 Billion Berkshire Bet, and the Biggest Share Sale in Two Decades

Google parent Alphabet launches $80B equity raise, including Berkshire Hathaway investment, to fund AI and cloud infrastructure across Sweden, Asia-Pacific, and beyond.

The first shovel hit the ground in Horndal, a small town in central Sweden, on June 2. Alphabet chose that moment to break ground on its first wholly owned data center in the country — an air-cooled facility designed to pipe excess heat to local homes and businesses. The project will create roughly 100 direct jobs and, according to the company, thousands more through construction and local suppliers, of which Google already works with nearly 60 in Sweden. A separate €5 million fund has been earmarked for education and sustainability projects in the area.

But the Swedish facility is just one piece of a far broader infrastructure push that Alphabet is financing with the largest equity raise in its history. The parent of Google is aiming to collect $80 billion — a sum that includes a $10 billion private placement with Berkshire Hathaway, the first major capital allocation decision by Greg Abel since taking over as Berkshire CEO from Warren Buffett at the start of 2026. Berkshire already held an Alphabet stake worth roughly $16.6 billion before this latest addition, which was executed as a two-tranche private placement: Class A shares at $351.81 and Class C shares at $348.20, both at a discount to the prevailing market price.

The remaining $70 billion of the capital package is structured in three parts: $15 billion in depositary receipts on mandatory convertible shares, another $15 billion in regular underwritten offerings of Class A and Class C stock, and a $40 billion ongoing at-the-market program set to start rolling out in the third quarter. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are joint bookrunners on the transactions.

Alongside the financing, Alphabet has secured capacity on Telstra's new "Aura" fiber network spanning Australia, along with access to three subsea cable systems — Tabua, Proa and Bulikula — that connect Australia to Japan, Pacific islands and the United States. The aim is to boost bandwidth and redundancy for Google Cloud and its AI services across the Asia-Pacific region, a market where cloud demand already outstrips available capacity, the company has acknowledged.

The market's immediate reaction to the dilution was swift. Alphabet shares fell 2% to 4% on the day of the announcement, with trading volume surging to 50 million shares — nearly double the daily average. The stock now trades at around 313 euros, roughly 9% below its 52-week high of 344.60 euros set in May. HSBC maintained its buy rating but trimmed its price target to $420 from $435, calling the capital increase surprising but noting Alphabet is well positioned to ride the wave of AI-driven demand.

Underlying business trends justify that confidence. In the first quarter of 2026, Alphabet reported revenue of $109.9 billion, up 22% year over year, with earnings per share of $5.11 and an operating margin of 36%. Google Cloud revenue surged 63% to $20 billion, and the unit's order backlog has nearly doubled to more than $460 billion. The company's subscription business now counts 350 million paying users.

Amid the noise of the record financing, Alphabet is also signaling business as usual through its dividend policy. The next quarterly payout of $0.22 per share carries an ex-dividend date of June 8 and a payment date of June 15 — a small gesture of continuity as the company embarks on its most expensive infrastructure campaign since the birth of Google.