Google Cloud Next 2025: Google Bets Big on AI Startups and Infrastructure

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Google Cloud is no longer just a provider—it's becoming the backbone of the AI startup revolution.
At its recent Google Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas, Google showcased a vision of the future powered by artificial intelligence, unveiling not only new chips and models but also a growing alliance of high-impact startups reshaping the AI landscape.

The Next Wave: Ironwood Chip & Gemini 2.5 Flash

Google introduced Ironwood, its latest AI processing chip, promising faster training and inference performance for demanding AI workloads. Complementing the hardware, Google also launched Gemini 2.5 Flash, a lightweight, latency-optimized model designed to scale across cloud and edge.

These announcements are significant not just for enterprises, but for the AI startups now building their core infrastructures on Google Cloud.

A New Generation of Startups Chooses Google

In an aggressive move to outpace Microsoft Azure and AWS in the AI cloud war, Google revealed a powerhouse lineup of AI-native startups now leveraging its cloud. The strategy is clear: embed deeply with early-stage innovation before it scales globally.

Safe Superintelligence (SSI)

Founded by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, SSI is perhaps the most anticipated stealth-mode AI startup in the world. Google’s ability to secure SSI’s infrastructure signals immense trust in both performance and alignment.

Cursor by Anysphere

Cursor, the fast-rising AI-powered code editor rivaling GitHub Copilot, is built on Anthropic’s Claude models running on Google Cloud. Its valuation has skyrocketed to $10 billion, and its decision to partner with Google over Microsoft is a strategic chess move in the cloud wars.

Hebbia: Redefining Legal Intelligence

Hebbia uses AI to read, analyze, and answer questions from massive documents—making it invaluable to the legal and finance sectors. The company raised $130M in Series B funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, and Google Ventures, and it now runs on Gemini.

Magic: AI for Code & Research

Magic is building frontier AI models for software engineering and scientific discovery. With backers like CapitalG and Eric Schmidt, Magic is tightly integrated with Google’s GPU infrastructure and likely serves as a testbed for cutting-edge capabilities.

Physical Intelligence: Robots Meet AI

Developing foundational software for autonomous robots, Physical Intelligence boasts investors like Jeff Bezos, Sequoia, and Thrive Capital. Key team members previously worked at DeepMind, reinforcing Google's long-term vision for embodied AI.

Photoroom & Synthesia: Creative AI at Scale

• Photoroom, a leader in AI-powered photo editing, is using Google’s Imagen 3 and Veo 2 video models.

• Synthesia, valued at $2.1B, is pushing boundaries in synthetic video and avatar creation, integrating Google’s models into its production pipeline.

A Strategic Cloud Grab: Google Courts the VCs

Google also announced expanded VC partnerships—Lightspeed Venture Partners joined Sequoia and Y Combinator in the elite circle whose portfolio companies receive AI compute credits and early access to Google’s models. Lightspeed startups now qualify for up to $150,000 in cloud credits.

This move isn’t just about startup perks—it’s about early-stage lock-in and ecosystem control.

The Broader Startup Ecosystem on Google Cloud

Here are other high-growth AI startups featured at the conference:

Google’s AI Bet: More Than Just Compute

This week’s announcements signal that Google Cloud isn’t just selling compute—it’s enabling the AI economy. With startups in legaltech, robotics, media, healthcare, and developer tooling betting on Google infrastructure, the company is setting the stage for the next generation of breakthroughs.

Conclusion: Cloud as the New Platform War

Just as the mobile OS wars defined the 2010s, cloud platforms are defining the 2020s AI race. Google’s multi-front strategy—pairing hardware like Ironwood, flagship models like Gemini, VC incentives, and startup support—may be its most cohesive and competitive push yet.

As AI startups scale and the line between infrastructure and intelligence blurs, Google Cloud isn’t just a vendor—it’s becoming the platform of choice for building the future of AI.

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