Ahead of I/O 2026, Google and Blackstone have launched a major AI cloud venture focused on expanding access to Google’s TPU chips and AI infrastructure. Backed by a $5 billion investment, the partnership aims to meet rising global demand for AI computing power and challenge Nvidia’s dominance.
As part of this partnership, Blackstone is making an initial equity investment of $5 billion in the company, which will offer data centre capacity, operations, and networking, along with Google's custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) as a compute-as-a-service offering.
The company expects to bring the first 500 megawatts of capacity online in 2027, with plans to scale significantly over time. Apart from TPUs, Google will also supply software and services to the new company. Google has previously signed multi-billion-dollar agreements with companies such as Anthropic and Meta to provide access to its TPUs.
A few weeks ahead of Google I/O 2026, the tech giant unveiled brand new AI features coming to the upcoming Android 17 operating system, including Gemini Intelligence, which essentially lets AI agents take control of your Android device and perform tasks autonomously. Other new Android features include more robust voice-to-text recognition, some autofill smarts, and enhanced digital well-being settings. The company also announced its new Googlebook platform for AI-first laptops made in partnership with companies like Acer, HP, Lenovo, and Dell.
Google kicks off developer conference season with Google I/O 2026 on Tuesday, May 19. Google has shared the initial agenda for I/O 2026. The main keynote is scheduled for May 19 at 10:00 AM PT (10:30 PM IST). The developer-focused keynote will take place at 1:30 PM PT (2:00 AM IST on May 20). The event itself takes place at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. This year, tech enthusiasts are expecting Google's artificial intelligence to be the headlining act, as Gemini gets integrated across the entire Google ecosystem of products. Google is expected to reveal the latest updates to Chrome, Android, Google Search, and Workspace apps like Gemini, Sheets, and Docs.
Also Read: Google Android Show 2026: Gemini Intelligence, Googlebooks, and All Major Announcements