Smart Finance app learned that recently, Google (GOOGL.US) held the 2024Q3 earnings conference. Currently, the monthly search volume for video search is close to 20 billion times, in addition to an overview of artificial intelligence. With each change, the company is indeed expanding the possibilities of search, seeing that users adapting to this is not easy. Users are gradually understanding they can ask more questions, and therefore revisiting more frequently, hence Google has seen growth in this aspect. Despite already introducing an overview of artificial intelligence to over 1 billion users, the company is actively pursuing more innovations. Therefore, it is expected that search will continue to make significant developments in search products and Gemini by 2025.

Google stated that the company maintains a good partnership with Nvidia, is excited about GB 200, and will be one of the first companies to offer GB 200 on a large scale. In terms of TPU, Google has not only entered the sixth generation but has just outlined a roadmap for the future with the team, feeling very excited about it. All of this enables the company to plan ahead and drive optimized architectures.

Q&A

Q: Firstly, over the past year and more, you have showcased many different types of new-generation artificial intelligence-supported search products to rethink the search experience. Could you point out one or two products you are most interested in? Do you think that once these products are scaled up in the next two to three years, they will bring about more sustainable search growth?

The second question is, regarding the speed of development of these products, what do you think is the key limitation in truly reimagining search and expanding it to 2 to 3 billion users?

A: Currently, the monthly search volume for video search is close to 20 billion times, in addition to an overview of artificial intelligence. With each change, we are indeed expanding the possibilities of search, seeing that users adapting to this is not easy. Users are gradually understanding they can ask more questions, and therefore revisiting more frequently, hence we have seen growth in this aspect. Despite already introducing an overview of artificial intelligence to over 1 billion users, we are still actively pursuing more innovations. Therefore, I anticipate that search will continue to make significant developments in search products and Gemini by 2025.

I believe we are in the early stages of a powerful new technology. This enables us to provide more services to users, while also building on quality, trust, and user experience, which has always been our pursuit. Although we already have a user base of one billion, I don't believe this is a limitation. Clearly, issues such as latency, costs per query, etc., still exist, but as you have seen over the past 18 months, we have made substantial progress. Therefore, we will continue to launch more products and evolve continuously. Looking forward 12 months for search, I believe it will continue to evolve and be at the forefront of innovation.

Q: Can you elaborate on the infrastructure advantages and capital expenditure efficiency you have gained from Google's own TPU, compared to peers and other leading cloud computing service providers, and how this will impact your future capital expenditures?

A: We are in a favorable position because within our ai infrastructure, we have a comprehensive set of solutions. We are equipped with all leading AI accelerators, including GPU, TPU, and CPU, and we are investing in these areas.

We maintain a good partnership with Nvidia, are excited about GB 200, and will be one of the first companies to offer GB 200 on a large scale. Regarding TPU, we are not only on the sixth generation but have just developed a roadmap with our team for the future, which is very exciting. This enables us to plan ahead and drive optimized architectures.

Therefore, we are able to achieve first-class efficiency, which is reflected not only in Google's internal operations but also in the efficiency we provide through cloud computing services, especially in the growth of our ai infrastructure and ai services on it.

As you have seen this quarter, we have invested $13 billion in capital expenditures across the entire company. These expenses can be divided into two categories: one is for technological infrastructure, which accounts for the majority of the $13 billion; the other is investments in facilities, wagers, and other areas of the company.

In terms of technological infrastructure, we have invested in servers, including TPU and GPU, as well as in data centers and network equipment. This quarter, approximately 60% of the technological infrastructure investment went to servers, and about 40% went to data centers and network equipment.

We provide GPU and TPU internally and to customers, allowing us to make corresponding choices based on customer and internal needs. As mentioned in my prepared remarks, looking ahead to the next quarter and next year, we expect the investment level in the fourth quarter to be similar to the third quarter, around $13 billion.

Looking towards 2025, we do see growth potential. We will provide more information on this growth in the fourth quarter earnings conference, and while the percentage of this growth may differ from what we have seen between 2023 and 2024, we anticipate additional growth.

Q: What key experiences and lessons has Waymo launched in introducing the product to consumers in other cities, and how do you view Waymo's listing strategy?

A: Waymo, indeed, expanded the scope of paid services, especially in areas such as safety, privacy, and reliability. The level of consumer love for the experience surprised us. We will continue to improve the product, focusing mainly on gaining experience in the operation process in different cities. This enables us to more easily expand operations in more cities, so we are accelerating this process. This is also the reason we are expanding to Los Angeles.

In addition, we are establishing partnerships in new and unique ways, such as collaborations with Uber, and expanding operations to Austin and Atlanta. We are working with other network partners and fleet managers to study Waymo's driving mode, exploring more options.

This is an exciting time, and while safety remains our top priority, we are also seeking to expand and test various service models to help us plan for development beyond 2025.

Q: From the perspective of long videos and short videos or shorts, how do you view the trend of YouTube, and how do you view the continuous development of consumer and monetization trends?

A: Regarding the consumption and monetization of YouTube shorts, we can start with the viewing time. In fact, viewing time on YouTube continues to grow, with over 70 billion YouTube shorts viewed daily, according to statistics.

In terms of monetization, the monetization rate of shorts is steadily growing compared to streaming viewing. This gap is narrowing, especially in the USA, where we have observed this trend in other markets with higher monetization levels. We continue to work closely with advertisers to provide them with effective ways to reach this growing audience.

It is worth mentioning that advertisers can now book first-position ads in shorts, which is exciting. In addition, shorts have been integrated into the YouTube Select video ad activity, providing precise target selection for brands. Therefore, we are satisfied with the progress made in this area.