Alphabet faces scrutiny on AI spending as Google cloud growth slows

Alphabet will face investor scrutiny over its massive spending on AI when it reports earnings on Tuesday, as revenue growth at the Google parent likely slowed in the holiday quarter due to a slowdown in its advertising and cloud businesses. Like other U.S. technology heavyweights, Alphabet faces new scrutiny on its capital expenditure after Chinese startup DeepSeek last month launched low-cost AI models that threaten to push the AI industry into a price war.

Alphabet’s capital expenditure is estimated to have been $50 billion for last year, according…