Alphabet President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat said at Fortune's Most Powerful Women summit that the company will significantly increase AI-related capital spending next year, as compute demand from enterprises, governments and platforms keeps rising, and that the AI arms race is still in an early expansion phase. She said Alphabet expects to spend about $200 billion this year to expand AI capacity and remains constrained by available compute, indicating demand far exceeds supply. The report also said Alphabet's second-quarter capex reached $44.9 billion and free cash flow turned negative at $5.9 billion, the first such occurrence in more than 20 years of being public; in July the company raised its 2026 capex forecast to as much as $205 billion, and shares fell more than 6% the next day. Porat pushed back on Jefferies' Chris Wood's warning that the AI boom could cause "capital destruction," and said Alphabet is investing in nuclear, geothermal, solar and wind power and formed a skills-training alliance with Ford, Blackstone and Carhartt.