Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) shares pushed higher on April 22 after the tech giant unveiled two new eighth-generation tensor processing units (TPUs) at its flagship Cloud Next conference.
At the annual event, the company said its all-new TPU 8t is optimized for training and the TPU 8i is designed specifically for inference and artificial intelligence (AI) agent workloads.
Including recent gains, Google stock is trading up nearly 24% versus its year-to-date low.
Significance of New TPU Launches for Google Stock
The newly introduced training chip (8t) delivers 2.8x better price-performance than its predecessor — a metric that directly addresses cost concerns enterprise clients face when procuring AI compute capacity.
Importantly, Alphabet isn’t simply trying to replicate Nvidia’s (NVDA) general-purpose GPU approach; it’s designing purpose-built accelerators optimized for specific workloads within its own software and hardware ecosystem.
This reduces the giant’s reliance on expensive external GPUs, protecting its operating margins as AI capital expenditures (capex) soar toward $180 billion.
Meanwhile, securing major third-party contracts from the likes of Anthropic and Meta (META) proves that Google’s custom silicon has evolved from an internal experiment to a high-margin revenue stream.
This potential diversification beyond the core advertising business could unlock significant further upside in GOOGL stock over time.
How High Could GOOGL Shares Fly in 2026?
Despite their meteoric run in the trailing 12 months, BMO analysts continue to view Alphabet shares as a top pick for the remainder of 2026.
According to them, this Magnificent 7 name remains “the best way to own AI, as it continues to expand its leadership positions across the AI stack.”
On Wednesday, BMO reiterated its “Outperform” rating on Alphabet and raised the price objective to $410, indicating potential upside of more than 20% from current levels.
Note that GOOGL is currently trading decisively above its major moving averages (MAs), with a 14-day RSI at 66 indicating room for further upside before it climbs into overbought territory.
How Wall Street Recommends Playing Alphabet
Other Wall Street firms also agree with BMO on Alphabet. The consensus rating on GOOGL shares sits at a “Strong Buy” currently, with price targets as high as $420 signaling potential for another 25% rally from here.
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On the date of publication, Wajeeh Khan did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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