Google announced Gemini 3 and it made quite a splash. There’s already a ton of content and opinions about what this model can do; I, on the other hand, want to write a few things about Google’s overall market strategy.
Over the last two years, while the AI wars have been raging at full speed, we’ve seen many commentators voice concerns that Google has fallen far behind. I had previously written on my blog about Google’s advantages; in this piece, I’ll try to explain how those advantages are becoming even more visible with Gemini 3.
With the AI revolution, we suddenly saw two giants, Nvidia and OpenAI, step into the spotlight as leading actors. It was common knowledge that Google, Apple and Meta were lagging somewhat behind. I had noticed from the very beginning that Apple and Meta’s room for maneuver in this process was quite limited, while Google was trying to strengthen its position by making moves in very different areas.
So how did I arrive at this conclusion? First of all, we already knew that Google has been investing heavily in AI for years, and that what it really needed for its products was an accelerator. That accelerator had to be a global catalyst. And that catalyst turned out to be OpenAI. After that, Google accelerated its efforts on the software side of AI, especially with Sergey Brin – in other words, the founding vision – coming back to the office and taking a more active role. This is really important. The point Gemini 3 has reached today is at a level even the OpenAI CEO has publicly praised.
The technology layer we could call the “engine” of AI is dominated by Nvidia. So what is Google doing here? It developed a TPU it can sell through Cloud, and built Gemini on top of this engine. What does that mean? It has started to reduce its direct dependency on Nvidia at the most critical layer.
Google has also managed the perception side of this very well. As you know, Google’s flagship product is Search. With the rise of AI tools, it was a very straightforward inference that people’s traditional search habits would be eroded. So what did Google do here? It integrated Gemini directly into Search. It’s worth emphasizing what a critical decision this is. By breaking up a search experience they could easily feed with pages of ads, they effectively chose to shrink – even bury – their biggest revenue stream, the traditional advertising model. In the new Gemini-powered search engine concept, compared to classic results pages, you get a much more concise answer and far less ad real estate. A very bold move.
Then comes data storage. OpenAI handles data storage and infrastructure primarily through external cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure, AWS and Oracle. So how does Google handle it? Again, with a product from within its own stack, keeping its dependency on external providers at this layer to a minimum.
Now let’s focus on distribution. One of the toughest challenges Google faced was dealing with antitrust cases around Chrome. Chrome means direct access to the user, and it’s still the biggest player in the market. They managed to hold on to that. Once markets started to price the risk of Chrome being sold off as much lower, the company’s stock began to move upwards. On top of that, Google continues to be one of the two biggest players in mobile devices through Android, which is one of its strongest cards.
And the final leg: energy. This is one of the most strategic moves Google has made. Since 2017, they’ve been investing in and acquiring assets in the renewable energy space. Even though they haven’t yet reached a point where they are completely self-sufficient, Google stands out as one of the most aggressive and earliest movers in this area. At this pace, it looks like Google will be among the first tech companies to secure its own energy infrastructure.
As a result, there are currently two clearly visible fronts in the AI wars. One is the block led by Microsoft, with Nvidia, OpenAI and Oracle. Each of these players continues to grow in a state of mutual dependence. Google, on the other hand, is building a comparatively more independent, self-sufficient ecosystem.
In the long run, we’ll see together whether the winners will be the team players, or the ones who build their own playing field.
Just my humble take.
