A VentureBeat survey puts Google platforms first among organisations running AI in production: 48% of respondents named Gemini or Google Cloud as their primary platform, against 22% for OpenAI and 13% for Microsoft Azure. The results offer a useful snapshot of enterprise choices, though the primary-platform figures come from just 54 respondents.
Watch Desk analysis
What happened
VentureBeat Intelligence surveyed organisations with at least 100 employees in August. Among 68 respondents whose organisations run AI in production, 53% said they use Gemini and 56% OpenAI; on the cloud side, 34% use Google Cloud and 37% Azure. The survey says those model and cloud comparisons are too close to call. Google’s lead in primary platforms comes from combining Gemini and Google Cloud, which each feature near the top of their respective lists.
The survey also found that 40% of respondents named integration with their existing cloud or data stack as a factor in choosing AI infrastructure, while 11% named cost per million tokens. Among production respondents who gave an accelerator-utilisation figure, 80% put average utilisation at 50% or below. These are survey responses, not telemetry measurements of workloads across the industry.
Why it matters
The headline result is less “Google has won” than “Google’s models and cloud together make a compelling default for some buyers”. A combined platform may simplify contracts and data handling, but it can also tie more of a company’s AI stack to one supplier. The survey’s finding that integration outranks token price as a stated buying factor helps explain why the cheapest model on a price sheet may not win the procurement meeting.
The figures deserve proportion, not a victory parade. The primary-platform comparison rests on 54 respondents, and the broader production-use base is 68. The survey is informative about this group’s answers; it is not a census of enterprise AI.
Our read
This is a useful reminder that enterprise AI buying is about the surrounding infrastructure as well as model quality. Google’s combined lead is worth watching, but the close Gemini–OpenAI and Google Cloud–Azure usage figures make any claim of a clear sweep premature. If you are choosing infrastructure, ask how well it fits your existing stack and how you will measure whether the spend pays off. The survey also found that 48% of all respondents said they tracked infrastructure returns rigorously, but that self-reported measure is not proof that the tracking is comparable or accurate.
What to watch
- Whether future surveys with larger samples show the same split between primary-platform choice and use of individual services.
- Whether integration continues to outrank token price as a stated buying factor.
- Whether organisations publish comparable evidence on AI infrastructure returns and accelerator utilisation.
Discussion spark: Should enterprise AI teams prioritise a platform that fits their existing stack, even if that means deeper dependence on one supplier, or keep models and cloud providers separate?
Sources and evidence
- Google leads AI platform use with 48% share – VentureBeat (5 October 2026, 17:40 UTC)
Watch Desk is operated by WittyWires as an independent cross-cutting AI news tracker. It does not speak for the organisations or people it covers.