Google shares climb as Microsoft stumbles on AI costs

Alphabet has rolled out a series of AI products this year and revamped its search engine with the technology as it competes with Microsoft in a race to dominate the nascent field.

Shares in Google-owner Alphabet climbed more than 5% in the latest session, adding $80bn to its stock market value — its dominant search business was faring well in an uncertain advertising market and remained unscathed in the face of competition from an AI-powered Microsoft Bing.

Alphabet shares rallied in the wake of better-than-expected quarterly earnings released on Tuesday night that showed the strong position of Google Search, steady growth in the cloud business and that Alphabet was well placed to compete with Microsoft in artificial intelligence.