Alphabet's Cloud and AI Offensive Gains Ground as Analysts Lift Targets

BNP Paribas signed a five-year Google Cloud partnership, extending Alphabet's enterprise AI momentum as analysts raised price targets.

Alphabet is wasting little time converting its artificial-intelligence ambitions into commercial contracts. On Thursday, French banking giant BNP Paribas signed a five-year partnership with Google Cloud, giving the European lender expanded access to the technology group's cloud infrastructure and its Gemini models. The deal lands just days after Salesforce and Google Cloud announced an expansion of their own strategic alliance on September 15, under which Salesforce workloads will migrate to Google Cloud via the Hyperforce platform, complete with shared data and joint tooling for AI agents.

Enterprise Momentum Builds Beyond Search and Ads

The steady drumbeat of corporate tie-ups matters for a company still best known for search and advertising. Embedding modern model architectures into mission-critical banking and sales processes gives Alphabet a way to lock large clients into its software stack for the long haul—and opens revenue streams that sit well outside its traditional comfort zone.

Wall Street has taken notice. Mark Mahaney of Evercore ISI raised his price target on September 17 to $450 from $420, keeping an Outperform rating. A day later, Ivan Feinseth of Tigress Financial followed suit, lifting his target to $485 from $415 while sticking with Strong Buy. The bullishness rests largely on the cloud division's sustained growth and the rapid rollout of generative applications in the enterprise segment. Regulatory proceedings in various markets remain a drag, though demand for compute power and language models is cushioning that uncertainty.

Hardware Push Extends Gemini's Reach

Gemini is also moving onto desks. Alphabet is rolling out a new device category built around its own AI tools: premium, Android-aligned laptops designed specifically for the company's Gemini software. Manufacturing is entrusted to established partners, with models from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo set to hit shelves starting at $899. Under the hood, Intel or Qualcomm processors do the work. The gambit aims to knit the AI ecosystem more tightly into the traditional PC market and plant Gemini directly at users' workplaces.

Data-center hardware is gaining profile too. A billion-dollar credit facility is flowing into Crux AI, the joint venture Alphabet runs with Blackstone. The borrowed capital is earmarked for procuring Google's Tensor Processing Units, the company's in-house specialty chips for AI computation.

A Mixed Institutional Picture

Not everyone was cheering over the summer. Research firm Hazeltree reported growing reticence among hedge funds in August—for the first time this year, the number of funds holding short positions outweighed the number of long-term holders. Alphabet consequently dropped off the list of the most widely held blue chips in the fund industry.

Regulators Keep the Pressure On

Competition authorities continue to test the company on multiple fronts. Google will be required to show users selection screens for their default search engine that also include qualified AI assistants as options. The consultation period on that proposal runs until October 9, with a final decision expected by year-end.

In the U.S., management dodged a far grimmer outcome. In the antitrust case over its advertising technology business, a judge at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declined on September 16 to order the breakup of the segment that the Department of Justice had sought. Google must still loosen auction rules for online advertising and accept an antitrust monitor for six years. The company has already signaled it will appeal the finding of liability concerning one advertising tool.

Shares Hold Their Ground

Through it all, the stock has stayed on an even keel. Alphabet closed Friday's Xetra session at EUR 301.90. That brings its gain since the start of the year to 13 percent, though the shares remain 14 percent below their 52-week high.