AI Empires: A Dividend Hunter’s Hesitation

My Aunt Carol, God bless her, keeps asking about “the cloud.” Not the meteorological kind, of course. She thinks it’s where photos of her miniature dachshund, Winston, go to die. Which, honestly, isn’t far off the mark. Everything ends up lost in the digital ether eventually. And that, I suppose, is the foundation of this whole Alphabet versus Amazon conundrum. Everyone’s chasing the cloud, hoping to monetize vapor. I’m a dividend hunter, you see. I like things I can see, like a quarterly check. But even I have to admit, there’s a certain… gravitational pull to these tech behemoths.

They both want to be the operating system for everything, naturally. It reminds me of my brother, Mark, trying to organize our mother’s Tupperware collection. An admirable effort, but ultimately doomed to failure. There’s just too much plastic. And in this case, too much data. Alphabet, with its Gemini models embedded in everything from search to, apparently, Apple’s revamped Siri (launching in 2026, a lifetime in tech years), is betting on ubiquity. Siri, though. That’s a bold move. I’ve had more coherent conversations with Winston. But the Apple deal is clever. It’s like admitting search isn’t enough, that you need access to two billion devices to really matter. Their $155 billion backlog in Google Cloud is impressive, and the Wiz acquisition, if it goes through, will be interesting. Though, honestly, the names of these security firms all blend together after a while. It’s like they’re trying to sound vaguely menacing.

Amazon, meanwhile, is doubling down on AWS. Which feels… safer. It’s like they’re saying, “We built the pipes, we’ll keep building the pipes.” That $200 billion backlog is no joke, and that deal with OpenAI—$38 billion for cloud capacity—that’s just showing off. Like buying a solid gold toilet seat. You don’t need it, but it sends a message. And their advertising business is a sneaky little engine of profit. It’s the digital equivalent of selling overpriced souvenirs at a tourist trap. Effective, if a little cynical.

So, which one for the portfolio? It’s a tricky one. Alphabet feels like a faster horse, maybe even a unicorn. But it’s also a bit… ethereal. Amazon is the workhorse, reliable, if not particularly glamorous. If I were a younger man, with more faith in the future, I’d probably gamble on Alphabet. But I’m not. I prefer the steady drip of Amazon’s multiple revenue streams. It’s the kind of growth you can actually count on. Not the kind you hope for, but the kind that pays the bills. And honestly, after years of watching tech stocks soar and crash, I’ve come to appreciate the simple pleasure of a predictable dividend. It’s a small comfort, I know. But in a world of disappearing photos and vaporous clouds, sometimes it’s enough.

2026-02-01 17:22

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