Apple reported a record September-quarter revenue of $114.5 billion without building hyperscale data centers, while Alphabet spent $51.36B on Q3 capex and reported negative free cash flow. Apple uses Google's Gemini and other partners' models rather than building its own large-scale compute, whereas Alphabet is borrowing to fund its expansion, raising $28.7 billion in senior notes. Google Cloud revenue rose 103% to $30.71B, but free cash flow came in at negative $9.07B. Apple still bears costs: December-quarter gross margin guidance is 45% to 46% due to higher memory costs and the Siri AI ramp, and operating expenses are expected to grow 11% to 13%. The author considers Apple's position more durable, though Apple trades at a P/E of 43 versus 13 for Alphabet.
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AppleGOOGLartificial intelligencedata centers
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Related tickers and likely impact
AAPL
• NeutralApple Inc.
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals |
| Market cap | $5.1T |
| Close on 11/03/2026 | 331.74 |
| Change that session | -1.94% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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