Giant: What The Hell Is It Anymore? From Corporate Chains to Iron Men

Google's 'Awakening': A Giant's Roar or Just a Loud Yawn?

Alright, let's cut through the corporate bull. The headlines are screaming about Google being 'fully awake' in the AI race, with one such example being Google, the sleeping giant in global AI race, now ‘fully awake’ - Fortune. Alphabet shares are doing a little happy dance towards a $4 trillion market cap, and suddenly, everyone's forgetting the last three years of Google looking like they were still hitting the snooze button. Give me a break.

I've seen this movie before. It's the one where the lumbering incumbent, after being completely outmaneuvered by a nimble startup, suddenly remembers it has a giant pile of cash and decides to throw it at the problem. Analysts are tripping over themselves, calling Google a "sleeping giant that is now fully awake." Neil Shah said that. Meryem Arik, CEO of Doubleword, she gets it – she points out Google's TPUs are great for big spenders like Meta, but it also locks 'em into the Google cloud ecosystem. Smart business? Sure. Revolutionary? Not so much.

The Echo Chamber of Hype vs. The Murmur of Doubt

So, Google's stock is up. Great. Meanwhile, SoftBank, a major OpenAI backer, takes a tumble. Nvidia, the actual king of the AI chips, erases $243 billion in market value in a single day. Is Google winning, or are they just benefiting from everyone else having a bad Tuesday? It's like watching a marathon where one runner trips, and the guy who was lagging behind suddenly looks like he's gaining ground. He didn't speed up; the other guy just face-planted.

Let's talk about this "awakening." Three years ago, ChatGPT launched and Google, the supposed pioneer of the tech, looked like a deer in headlights. Their own engineers, even their former CEO, were saying they were behind. Now, with Gemini 3, suddenly they're "back in the game," as Forrester's Thomas Husson puts it, even dropping a Mark Twain paraphrase. How convenient. It’s almost like they just needed a good narrative to dodge the worst of that US anti-monopoly case, claiming the "threat from AI newcomers" was real. Funny how that works out, ain't it?

And while we're talking about money, you know what's really killing it? QVC. Yeah, the home shopping network. They're reportedly the highest-earning vendor on TikTok after going 24/7, according to Home shopping giant QVC finds now huge on TikTok - NBC News. So while these tech titans are duking it out over who has the biggest, baddest AI model, QVC is out here moving product on a platform the "serious" tech guys probably barely acknowledge. It's a testament to how detached some of these corporate battles are from where actual human beings spend their time and money... and honestly, it makes me wonder what the hell we're even talking about sometimes.

The Long Road Ahead (Or Just More Roadblocks?)

Look, Google’s got some serious muscle. They've got a "full stack" approach – apps, models, cloud, custom chips. They've got a data goldmine from search, Android, YouTube. Demis Hassabis, the DeepMind guy, he's consolidating their AI efforts, keeping top talent. That's all good, solid corporate strategy. But is it innovation? Or is it just playing catch-up with very deep pockets?

Their homegrown Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) were designed a decade ago to speed up search. They've been adapted for AI, sure, and now companies like Anthropic and Meta are signing massive deals to use them. That's a win for Google Cloud, which, let's not forget, is still a distant third behind Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. A win, yes, but it feels less like a new dawn and more like finally monetizing old infrastructure. It’s like an old industrial giant finally figuring out how to sell its excess factory capacity to its rivals. It's smart, but it ain't exactly inventing the wheel.

And let's be real about the user numbers. Google announced 650 million people use its Gemini app. Sounds big, right? But ChatGPT hit 800 million weekly users. And Sensor Tower says ChatGPT had 93 million monthly downloads compared to Gemini's 73 million. So, Google has a lot of users, but ChatGPT has more active engagement and downloads. That's not a small distinction. It's the difference between having a lot of acquaintances and having a loyal following.

My biggest question isn't whether Google can compete. It's whether they'll ever truly lead again, or if they're destined to be the powerful, well-funded follower. They pioneered the underlying tech for ChatGPT, then let OpenAI run with it. Was that a strategic misstep, or just the natural inertia of a massive corporation? And can a company that's historically been so protective of its search dominance truly embrace the open, disruptive nature of AI without hobbling itself? Then again, maybe I'm the crazy one here.

Just Another Day at the Office for a Monopoly

Let's call it what it is. Google's not "awakening" so much as it's finally getting off the couch after a long nap and realizing everyone else is already halfway through the race. They've got the resources, the talent, and the historical advantage to make a lot of noise. They'll probably keep making a lot of money, too. But a true "roar"? Nah. This is a powerful company doing what powerful companies do: leveraging existing assets, making strategic acquisitions, and trying to lock in customers. It's a business move, not a revolutionary moment. Don't let the headlines fool you.