Google expands in Belgium and faces US AI antitrust scrutiny

Google is investing another €5 billion in Belgium over the next two years to boost its cloud and AI infrastructure. That effort includes expanding its data centre locations in Saint-Ghislain and creating 300 new full-time jobs. At the same time, it’s inked deals with Eneco, Luminus, and Renner to help develop onshore wind farms and support the power grid with clean energy.

That investment isn’t just about hardware. Google says it will also fund free AI training for low-skilled workers, through nonprofit partners, so Belgians can build new skills for an AI-driven economy.

Alphabet Inc’s Google is trying to keep the right to bundle its popular apps like Maps and YouTube with its AI service Gemini, a lawyer for the company told a US federal judge on October 8. This challenge comes in response to a Justice Department proposal that would block such bundling.

“There’s no notion that Google has to date gained monopoly or market power in the artificial intelligence market,” said Google lawyer John Schmidtlein to Judge Amit Mehta. He added, “there’s been no finding that Maps is a monopoly product or that YouTube is a monopoly product.”

Judge Mehta, who has already ruled that Google monopolised search and search advertising, is working on a remedy to address the company’s conduct. Last month, he decided Google can no longer pay firms exclusively to use its Search, Chrome, or Play Store, though he did not ban all payments outright. His order merged parts of Google’s and the Justice Department’s ideas, triggering Wednesday’s session where both sides made their final push.

In the courtroom, witnesses said Google forces an “all-or-nothing” app bundle on device makers: to get the Play Store, manufacturers must preload a dozen Google apps. This meant Microsoft had to include Google search in its Surface Duo devices instead of promoting its own Bing search engine.

The Justice Department argues that the same rules that apply to Search, Chrome, and Play should also apply to the Gemini AI bundle. Google opposes adding such limits.

Google’s YouTube is enormously influential: Bloomberg reports it’s now larger than all Disney’s TV networks and streaming services combined, based on audience and ad revenue. Users watch over 1 billion hours of content daily on YouTube.

Meanwhile, Google Maps dominates navigation and mapping. It passed 2 billion users globally in the past year, far ahead of Apple Maps’ “hundreds of millions” users as of 2020. More than 5 million apps and sites also use Google Maps to power location-based features.

The Biden-era Justice Department also probed Google Maps for antitrust issues in the past, though it never filed a case.

At the hearing, Schmidtlein argued that Google should not face restrictions even while AI is still developing. He compared Google bundling Gemini with Microsoft bundling the CoPilot AI feature inside Office software.

Judge Mehta, however, seemed wary of letting Google force Gemini onto device makers just to access Maps or YouTube. He warned that doing so could let Google use its existing strength in those markets to unfairly boost its AI service.

Cameron Gower, representing the Justice Department, encouraged Mehta to treat Gemini the same as Chrome, placing restrictions on bundling.

Mehta declined to set a date for his final ruling.

In a separate move, Google will be the official cloud provider for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games, joining LA28 as a founding partner. The company’s cloud systems and AI tools, including Gemini and an “AI Mode” in Search, will help fans find information and support event operations across NBCUniversal’s broadcasts.

Casey Wasserman, chair and president of LA28, said the deal aims to create “a technologically advanced, engaging and digitally accessible Games.” Google VP Marvin Chow added that the partnership would make the Games more personalised for spectators. NBCUniversal’s ad head, Mark Marshall, said the match of Google’s tech and NBC’s content would make for a “world class viewing experience.”

YouTube will host selected Olympics content in collaboration with NBCUniversal. The infrastructure will support millions of users, plus athletes and more than 70,000 volunteers.

This announcement comes as LA28 ramps up sponsorships. Google joins Starbucks, Honda, Comcast, and Delta as founding partners. The Games aim to raise $800 million to $1 billion in new deals in 2025, pushing total sponsorship toward $2 billion.

Los Angeles will host the Olympics for the third time (after 1932, 1984), and the first Paralympics. LA28 plans to use existing venues rather than building many new ones.

(Photo by Patrick Robert Doyle)

See also: Google Cloud Next 25: AI, cloud, and WAN

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