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It’s Thursday!
Hello, Curse and Coffee friends,
Today, we look at Google’s AI infra bet.
Hit reply and let us know what you think (we read all of your kind words).
Coffee at the ready…
The Big Sip
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
The take: Sundar Pichai is selling the same AI spending he called irrational three months ago — and using 19th-century infrastructure as the receipt.
What happened: At the India AI Impact Summit on 18 February, Pichai compared Alphabet's record $175–185 billion 2026 capital spending plan to the US railroad and highway buildouts.
Why it matters: That figure doubles last year's spend, and some analysts now expect Alphabet's free cash flow to crater 90% in a single year.
What to watch: Whether the $240 billion Google Cloud backlog converts to real revenue before the next earnings call in late April.
Railroads also bankrupted 89 of America's 364 rail companies in a single panic. Someone get Pichai a history book that includes Chapter 2.
[Analysis] Bank of America Global Fund Manager Survey, 17 Feb 2026
Background: Bank of America (BofA) polled 190 fund managers overseeing $512 billion between 6 and 12 February.
The quote: Chief Investment Strategist Michael Hartnett flagged that a record 35% of managers now say corporations are "overinvesting." That's the highest reading in 20 years. Another 25% named an AI bubble the top tail risk to markets.
Timing: Pichai's railroad pitch in Delhi landed one day after this survey dropped. The trip was planned weeks ahead. But the optics aren't: he's defending the biggest corporate spending bet in history, the day after Wall Street's loudest scepticism signal.
Sponsor Break
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