As artificial intelligence reshapes the economics of computing, Alphabet now confronts a familiar tension in the history of technological ambition: the moment when the cost of building the future begins to outpace the returns it was meant to deliver. With server prices projected to rise more than 15 percent in early 2027 — driven by memory shortages among a handful of dominant suppliers — the company's roughly $100 billion annual server budget faces pressure that its current guidance did not anticipate. The question is not whether Alphabet can absorb the blow, but whether the infrastructure er