Will Alphabet's research and development spending reach at least 14.8 percent of its revenue in the quarter ended September 30, 2026?
How it settles
Yes if research and development expense reported by Alphabet for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 divided by that quarter's revenue is fourteen point eight percent or more, on SEC EDGAR. SEC EDGAR, XBRL company facts of Alphabet (Forms 10-Q and 10-K)
The exact question and the full rule
Did the research and development expense of Alphabet for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 come to at or above 14.8% of its revenue?
Divide the research and development expense by the revenue that Alphabet reports for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 in its 10-Q or 10-K filing on SEC EDGAR. The answer is yes if the ratio is at or above 14.8%; no if it is below 14.8%.
If the source is late or silent: If Alphabet has not filed by November 16, 2026, or a filing restates a period the rule reads, the test is inconclusive, and the Result says what was read and what was missing.
If no
Cost per token falls faster than price
Expects AI inference costs to keep falling faster than prices, supporting steady or higher research spending as a share of revenue at or above 14.8 percent.
If yes
The case against it
Expects tight compute supply and falling token prices to squeeze margins, holding research spending share of revenue below 14.8 percent.
50%
NoYes
No position, no money. The crowd, the Call and the machines appear after you lock your number.
— You
— CallOct 22
— Machines2 models
— Readersshows from 5
The trail · since Oct 22
the Call 72, recorded Oct 22machines 2 runsreaders show from 5
The case · 7 people · 2 minutes
Cost per token falls faster than price2 people argue noThe case against it5 people argue yes
As inference costs decline through hardware improvements, software optimization, or volume leverage, a vendor can either cut prices or expand margins. Anthropic is expanding margins: compute spend per revenue dollar falling from 0.71 to 0.56 while…
While compute supply remains constrained, the price AI providers can charge per token is falling, squeezing the spread between input costs and revenue and potentially undermining the profitability case for AI infrastructure buildout.
What would change the Call
A large new research hire wave, or a cost-cutting announcement, would move this reading.
2 models ran this one. Their numbers and reasons appear after you lock yours.
The thesis
Will Microsoft report a company-wide gross margin percentage for the quarter ending June 30, 2027 that is at least 100 basis points above the same quarter of fiscal 2025, as disclosed in its SEC filings?
Falling cost per served token outpaces token price declines, so hyperscaler-reported gross margins expand despite surging AI inference volume and depreciation from the capex buildout.