Alphabet vs Microsoft
Alphabet and Microsoft are both placed on 3 of the same AI data center parts in this catalog, spanning layers 1, 9. Alphabet appears on 4 parts in total and Microsoft on 4.
At a glance
| Alphabet | Microsoft | |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | public | public |
| Headquarters | United States | not on file |
| Primary listing | GOOGL | MSFT |
| Market cap | 3.92T USD | 3.89T USD |
| Parts placed | 4 | 4 |
| Layers covered | 3 | 2 |
| Units / subsidiaries | 0 | 0 |
| Seen in machines | 1 | 1 |
Market caps are a nightly snapshot in each listing's own currency, never converted.
What the shared parts are
- Hyperscaler custom ASICs — AI accelerator chips (often called XPUs) designed in-house by a hyperscaler for its own fleet, typically co-developed with an outside ASIC design partner and fabbed by a merchant foundry.
- Hyperscaler Arm CPUs — Arm-based server CPUs designed in-house by a hyperscaler for its own fleet, such as AWS Graviton, Google Axion, and Microsoft Cobalt.
- Hyperscalers, neoclouds & model labs — The hyperscalers, neoclouds, and AI labs that occupy data center capacity as tenants or owner-operators, and whose capital spending ultimately drives demand for every layer below this one.
The 3 parts both make
| Part | Alphabet | Microsoft |
|---|---|---|
| Hyperscaler custom ASICs Layer 1 — Compute silicon & packaging | manufacturer inferred TPU | manufacturer inferred Maia |
| Hyperscaler Arm CPUs Layer 1 — Compute silicon & packaging | manufacturer inferred Axion | manufacturer inferred Cobalt |
| Hyperscalers, neoclouds & model labs Layer 9 — Building shell, site & construction | operator inferred | operator inferred |
Only Alphabet
- Scale-up fabric layer 3
Only Microsoft
- DPUs layer 1
Questions
- Do Alphabet and Microsoft compete?
- In this catalog they are both placed on 3 of the same parts, across 2 layers: Hyperscaler custom ASICs, Hyperscaler Arm CPUs, Hyperscalers, neoclouds & model labs. Sharing a part does not mean selling the same product to the same buyer, so read each row's product note.
- Which has more placements, Alphabet or Microsoft?
- Alphabet has 4 placements and Microsoft has 4. Placement counts reflect how thoroughly each company has been catalogued as well as its real breadth, so they are not a ranking.
Generated from the catalog's part-to-company table. Each placement is tagged disclosed, reported or inferred; see sources & method. Neither company is endorsed or ranked here.