The TPU Trap
Google’s Innovator’s Dilemma, in the Open
Yesterday, I explained the transformation Google is going through, one that is reshaping the company at its core and challenging the business model assumptions that defined its success for nearly two decades.
Google's Second Act
For nearly three decades, Google has been synonymous with consumer technology, arguably the defining company of the internet era. That remains true today—but it is changing rapidly. As we speak, Google is undergoing one of the most profound transformations in its history. AI isn't simply becoming another product for the company; it's fundamentally reshaping what Google is and what it is becoming.
In this piece, I’ll focus instead on the dilemma Google faces as it navigates that transition and evolves into a fundamentally different kind of company.
Selling the substrate for a $514 billion backlog might be the shrewdest move of the AI cycle — or the most sophisticated version of the classic incumbent’s mistake we’ve seen since IBM shipped the personal computer with someone else’s operating system and someone else’s processor. The Q2 print doesn’t tell us which. What we already know about how technological transitions unfold suggests the question is worth asking before the next four quarters make the answer obvious.
