Google writes the rulebook on AI economics — and it's not for the cloud boys

Google released a long-form research piece on the economics of AI, and it reads less like a tech whitepaper and more like an argument about who actually gets paid when AI gets built.

The piece covers the cost stack — chips, compute, data, and the labor that feeds it all — and then maps out how value flows through the system. The thesis is simple: most of the money stays with the chip makers and the compute platforms. The models, the apps, the wrappers? They're squeezing margins thin.

What's interesting for us is the part about infrastructure. Google is positioning itself as the foundation layer, the thing everyone else has to rent. That's the same play Intel was making with x86, the same play the Big Four is making with the bank rails. Whoever controls the substrate controls the toll.

Why this matters for us: if the money flows up to compute and chips, then the companies building on top — the ones we serve with tools and consult for — are fighting over scraps. We need to be on the foundation side, not the wrapper side.