Apple, Anthropic Use Google TPUs as Inventory Hits $13.3B
Google Cloud chief executive Thomas Kurian named Apple and Anthropic as companies using Google’s TPU chips during Alphabet’s third-quarter earnings call on 28 October 2026, according to a transcript made from the call’s captions. Alphabet’s results report, published the same day, says its inventory reached $13.3 billion on 30 September, up from $2.4 billion at the end of 2025.
Our calculations based on the report show that Alphabet put $11.0 billion of cash into inventory during the first nine months of 2026. That was 9.5 times the $1.2 billion added during the same period in 2025.
The key insight: Our calculations from Alphabet’s report show that it put $11.0 billion of cash into inventory during the first nine months of 2026, 9.5 times the amount added during the same period in 2025. Alphabet’s report for the quarter ending in June says this inventory consists mainly of hardware and devices used in TPU systems.
Update, 28 Oct: confirmed on the earnings call. A transcript made from captions of Alphabet’s earnings call confirms Kurian’s comments about Anthropic, Apple, Mirendil and Physical Intelligence. He said that “nearly 100 customers use TPUs today.” He also named financial trading firms such as Citadel Securities, along with Cassava and Cirrascale.
He added that Google had “recently entered into partnerships to deliver TPU systems with both Crux AI and Oracle, with more in the works.” These quotes come from a transcript made from the captions of the call’s webcast.
Who Kurian Named
A post by Andrew Curran quoting the earnings call reports that Kurian said: “In addition to our work with Anthropic, both directly and via Broadcom, and public references customers like Apple, who are scaling pretraining of their foundation models on the latest generations of TPUs, we’re also working with new frontier model companies including Mirendil and Physical Intelligence.”
A separate post by Wall St Engine reports almost the same statement about Apple. It also says that Google now has nearly 100 TPU customers. A transcript made from the call’s captions confirms both the statement about Apple and the figure of nearly 100 customers.
Apple described its earlier use of these chips in a technical report about its foundation models published in July 2024. The report says the models were first trained on v4 and v5p Cloud TPU groups. It also says Apple trained its server model using 8,192 TPUv4 chips.
Bloomberg reported on 27 October that Physical Intelligence was discussing new funding that would almost double its value to about $20 billion.
What Was Posted on X
Thomas Kurian said: “In addition to our work with Anthropic, both directly and via Broadcom, and public references customers like Apple, who are scaling pretraining of their foundation models on the latest generations of TPUs, we’re also working with new frontier model companies including Mirendil and Physical Intelligence.”
— Andrew Curran (@AndrewCurran_) Oct 28 21:01
Andrew Curran’s post quotes Thomas Kurian naming Anthropic, Apple, Mirendil and Physical Intelligence as companies that Google works with on TPUs.
What Alphabet Itself Says
Alphabet’s report says Google Cloud revenue grew by 103% to $30.7 billion. It also says that “TPU systems sales were also a meaningful contributor to revenue growth”. Alphabet says Google Cloud earns money mainly by selling TPU systems as products.
In his published remarks, chief executive Sundar Pichai said: “we’re seeing strong demand for our TPU systems across a wide range of customers, and we expect that to continue as we scale.” He also said Google was “working hard to bring more capacity online to meet this long-term demand”.
The Paper Trail in the Filings
Alphabet’s report for the quarter ending in March says Google Cloud signed a limited number of agreements to supply customers with several gigawatts of TPU hardware. These customers need, or provide, computer systems located on their own premises. Alphabet’s report for the quarter ending in June says the company began counting revenue from these agreements in the second quarter of 2026. Most of that revenue is expected to be counted in 2027.
The June report says inventory mainly includes hardware for TPU systems sold to business customers, as well as devices, mainly Pixel products. According to the filings, inventory was worth $10.0 billion on 30 June and $13.3 billion on 30 September.
Connecting the Coverage
On the balance sheet, Google’s inventory jumped five times to $13.3 billion as it sold TPU systems. Another report on tonight’s earnings says Google Cloud revenue doubled to $30.7 billion. Earlier this week, reports said OpenAI planned to buy Google’s AI chips.
The Structural Read
Our reading of the filings shows three steps in Alphabet’s reports about TPUs this year. First, its March-quarter filing described agreements to supply the hardware. Second, its June-quarter filing said the company began counting revenue from these agreements in the second quarter. Third, its October results report said TPU system sales had made a meaningful contribution to Google Cloud’s growth.
In his prepared remarks for the call, Kurian described two groups of customers. The first includes companies already working with Google on models, such as Anthropic and Apple. The second includes what he called new frontier model companies: Mirendil and Physical Intelligence.
Pichai’s published remarks say Google is working to provide more capacity and that many different customers want its TPU systems. His remarks do not name any customers.
Sundar Pichai, Q3 2026 earnings call remarks, 28 October 2026
“we’re seeing strong demand for our TPU systems across a wide range of customers”
Three Implications
FOR GOOGLE CLOUD Alphabet’s report says Google Cloud earns money from several sources. Its product sales mainly come from TPU systems, alongside the money it earns from services.
FOR THE BALANCE SHEET According to Alphabet’s report, inventory grew from $2.4 billion at the end of 2025 to $13.3 billion on 30 September. The company’s filings do not say how much of this inventory is TPU hardware and how much is made up of devices.
FOR THE CUSTOMER LIST The customer names come from the earnings call, as confirmed by a transcript made from its captions. Alphabet’s filing for the quarter ending in March describes only a limited number of agreements involving several gigawatts of hardware. It does not name the customers.
The Business Engineer Lens
This story relates to the Business Engineer framework called The State of The Inference Economy.
The framework argues that “The inference economy is no longer a prediction.” It points to a statement by Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang in February 2026 that computing power equals revenue.
Alphabet’s report, published on 28 October, says sales of TPU systems made a meaningful contribution to Google Cloud’s revenue growth. The framework itself does not discuss Google’s TPU customers.
What Is Not Established
Kurian’s comments are quoted from a transcript made from captions of the earnings call webcast, not from an official Alphabet transcript. The figure of nearly 100 TPU customers also comes from this transcript. Alphabet does not report TPU revenue as a separate amount. Its filings also do not name the customers involved in the agreements covering several gigawatts of hardware.
Alphabet’s inventory also includes devices such as Pixel phones. Its results report does not break down the $13.3 billion total into TPU hardware and devices.
The Bottom Line
According to posts reporting the earnings call, Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian named Apple, Anthropic, Mirendil and Physical Intelligence as users of its TPU chips. Alphabet’s results report says sales of TPU systems made a meaningful contribution to Google Cloud’s growth. Alphabet says its inventory, which consists mainly of TPU hardware and devices, reached $13.3 billion.
A note on sources. The figures come from Alphabet’s third-quarter 2026 results report, published on 28 October 2026, and its filings for the March and June quarters. Pichai’s words come from Google’s published remarks. Kurian’s comments on the call are quoted from posts on X that report what he said, not from an official transcript. The multiples and totals are our own calculations.
Sources: Alphabet Q3 2026 results report (SEC 8-K Exhibit 99.1, 28 Oct 2026) · Google: Q3 2026 earnings call, remarks from our CEO (28 Oct 2026) · Andrew Curran on X, reporting Thomas Kurian’s comments on the call · Wall St Engine on X, reporting the call · Apple: Apple Intelligence Foundation Language Models (July 2024)