Google Cloud's COO isn't stressed about landing the AI giants with Francis deSouza

This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos is joined by Francis deSouza, the renowned entrepreneur, operator and, since January of this year, COO of Google Cloud. They discuss his goals for Google Cloud and how the company maintains its competitive position by focusing on startups while giants like AWS and Oracle snap up major deals with leading AI companies — namely, OpenAI and Anthropic. The conversation also covers the tangled web of relationships in the AI ecosystem, where companies like Google Cloud provide infrastructure services while their parent companies compete fiercely in generative AI, even as those same parents hold investment stakes in their supposed rivals. They also discuss how Google Cloud approaches the GPU shortage as part of its strategy to attract customers — and keep them coming back for more.

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction and Francis deSouza's Background 05:00 - Google Cloud's Three-Pillar Strategy 08:55 - AI Startup Strategy and Revenue Commitments 10:00 - Competition with Oracle and AWS 12:30 - Partnership Strategy with Anthropic and Meta 14:00 - Balancing Competition and Neutral Infrastructure Provider Role 16:30 - TPUs vs GPUs: Technical Differentiation and Strategy 20:00 - Customer Lock-in Concerns and Technology Advantages 21:30 - Capacity Constraints and GPU Shortage 22:30 - Google Cloud Profitability and $80B CapEx Investment 25:00 - Health Data, Scientific Integrity, and Google's Role

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