Alphabet announced that it will be investing an additional US$9 billion in Virginia cloud and AI infrastructure in 2026.
The company said the investment will expand its local presence with a new data centre in Chesterfield County, through working with local partners on solutions for growing energy capacity demand.
This intensifies competition between Google and other companies hoping to break into the AI market, like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Some of the spending has been included in the capex plan for 2025, it previously announced, while the rest is being saved for the future.
Google said the investment is not only for infrastructure, but also for AI education. Through a US$1 billion commitment, all Virginian-based students would have access to the Google AI Pro plan and AI training for a year.
The University of Virginia, Brightpoint Community College and Northern Virginia Community College are part of the first cohort of the Google AI for Education Accelerator.
These resources can be accessed through the "Virginia Has Jobs" AI Career Launch Pad.
More than 100 universities have signed on to Google’s infrastructure so far.
This also comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has accelerated AI infrastructure investments by companies like Micron, Nvidia and CoreWeave as he attempts to bring in more local manufacturing.
Apple also announced that it plans to spend US$600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.
