Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has become only the fourth company in history to reach a $3 trillion market valuation, as investor enthusiasm over artificial intelligence and relief from a favourable US antitrust ruling drove shares to record highs.
Shares in the California-based group climbed more than 4 per cent on Monday, pushing its market cap to $3.04 trillion. The stock has risen 31 per cent so far this year, buoyed by strong earnings, rapid AI adoption, and a landmark legal reprieve earlier this month.
The milestone puts Alphabet in rare company alongside Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple. Nvidia crossed $4 trillion in July, becoming the world’s most valuable firm and providing a floor for equity markets following President Trump’s announcement of sweeping new tariffs.
Alphabet’s latest rally followed a September ruling in Washington that eased fears of a forced break-up. A judge rejected US Department of Justice calls for Google to divest its Chrome browser and Android mobile operating system, after a 2023 decision found the company had created an illegal monopoly in search. Shares surged to record highs on the day, with President Trump personally congratulating Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai at a White House dinner: “Well you had a very good day yesterday. Google had a very good day yesterday.”
The company has not avoided regulatory scrutiny altogether. Earlier this month, EU regulators fined Google nearly €3 billion for abusing its dominance in advertising technology.
Even so, Alphabet has outperformed expectations throughout 2025. Second-quarter revenues reached $96 billion, including a 12 per cent rise in Google search services to $54.2 billion, while YouTube advertising sales also beat forecasts. Cloud revenues rose nearly a third to $13.6 billion, further cementing the group’s dominance across multiple digital markets.
AI remains at the heart of the company’s growth story. Pichai said in July that Google’s AI “overviews” software is now used by 1.5 billion people, while its multimodal AI assistant Gemini continues to expand. “We are leading at the frontier of AI and shipping at an incredible pace. AI is positively impacting every part of the business, driving strong momentum,” he told investors.
The stock’s rise came alongside a broader US market rally ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week, when a widely expected quarter-point rate cut is due to be confirmed.
Alphabet shares closed up 10.81 points, or 4.49 per cent, at $251.61 on Monday.
