Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion to fund building artificial intelligence

Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, said Monday that it plans to raise $80 billion to help pay for the massive AI infrastructure buildout it has planned. The company said in a statement that it will sell this amount of shares, and then use the money to pay for “general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures to scale global artificial intelligence and computing infrastructure.”

Part of the plan includes selling $10 billion worth of stock to Berkshire Hathaway, the massive global holding company formerly headed by Warren Buffett.

“The company is experiencing strong demand for its AI solutions and services from businesses and consumers, at levels that exceed the company’s available supply,” Alphabet said in its statement. By expanding the scope of its investments, the company seeks to expand its core infrastructure to support the next significant growth opportunities.

The company added that the stock plan represents a way to “finance its investments in a balanced manner while maintaining a healthy balance sheet.”

Like other tech giants, Google has announced plans for a huge investment in computing this year, which will be used to support a range of new artificial intelligence services. At Google I/O last month, CEO Sundar Pichai said the company expects to spend between $180 billion and $190 billion on capital expenditures before the year is out. Google and other tech giants are expected to spend up to $700 billion this year on AI capital expenditures.