Alphabet Bucks Tech Layoff Trend, Hiring 12,000 Employees and Boosting AI Spending

Alphabet has bucked the tech industry's layoff trend by adding 11,830 employees over the past year, bringing its total headcount to 198,933. Additionally, the company raised its capital expenditure forecast to between $195 billion and $205 billion to expand its AI infrastructure. This shift highlights Alphabet's aggressive pivot toward long-term AI development, signaling that major tech firms are prioritizing infrastructure capacity to meet the surging demand for AI technologies. It also marks a significant recovery in hiring after years of industry-wide job cuts. In the second quarter alone, Alphabet added over 4,000 employees, representing more than a third of the year's net growth. Meanwhile, Google employees recently protested and petitioned management for stronger job security guarantees following previous rounds of layoffs.