Sundar Pichai’s biggest AI wins may come from other companies rather than Google itself. As the longtime CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, Pichai has poured billions into AI products and cloud services, but it’s Google’s early bets on companies like SpaceX and Anthropic that are set to yield the real payday. Both companies are preparing for a massive initial public offering this year, enabling Google to make tens of billions of dollars — and perhaps more — in investments that could be more profitable than its AI efforts to date.
Google, which Pichai has run for more than a decade, has long invested in startups through its venture capital arm, Google Ventures, and its growth arm, CapitalG. The boom in artificial intelligence has accelerated this approach, Pichai said during an April 7 interview with John Collison, co-founder of Stripe, and investor Elad Gil. “Now, with the shift in artificial intelligence, there are more opportunities where we can put capital to good use, so we are doing that“, said the CEO.
SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company, has become one of Google’s most profitable holdings. The company merged with Musk’s xAI venture earlier this year, pushing its valuation above $1 trillion. SpaceX secretly filed to go public in June and is said to be targeting a record valuation of $1.75 trillion. Google invested nearly $900 million in SpaceX in 2015 and still owns an estimated 7% stake, a position that could earn the company more than $100 billion when the IPO goes public.
The reward has already begun. In early 2025, Alphabet reported that unrealized gains from a private company contributed $8 billion to quarterly earnings, about a quarter of its net income. Bloomberg later I identified that company as SpaceX.
Another windfall is expected from Anthropic. Google first invested $2 billion in 2023 and now It owns about 14% of the company. After being valued in the millions, Anthropic’s valuation soared to $380 billion earlier this year, and is said to… Exploring an IPO in the fourth quarter of this year. The market debut could give Google one of its biggest returns outside its core business in years.
These gains come as Google’s AI products, such as Gemini and Vertex, face fierce competition from OpenAI (which Google has not invested in) and Microsoft. Meanwhile, the company’s venture and growth arms continue to deliver strong performance. Google has participated in funding rounds With a total of $21.6 billion in 2025, It is the highest since 2021, with nearly half focused on AI projects, including human and physical intelligence.
Pichai said the company will continue to pursue early-stage technology bets with long-term potential. “You want to be a good steward of capital,” he told Gill and Collison, citing SpaceX and Anthropic as examples. “To the extent that you are optimistic [return on invested capital]you want to invest every dollar you can there.
