This week on StrictlyVC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos is joined by Francis deSouza, the renowned entrepreneur, operator, and, since January, COO of Google Cloud. They discuss his goals for Google Cloud and how the company maintains its competitive position by focusing on startups while giants like AWS and Oracle snap up major deals with leading AI companies — namely, OpenAI and Anthropic.
The conversation also covers the tangled web of relationships in the AI ecosystem, where companies like Google Cloud provide infrastructure services while their parent companies compete fiercely in generative AI, even as those same parents hold investment stakes in their supposed rivals. They also discuss how Google Cloud approaches the GPU shortage as part of its strategy to attract customers — and keep them coming back for more.
StrictlyVC Download posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop.
Karyne Levy is the deputy managing editor of TechCrunch. Before joining TC, Karyne was deputy managing editor at Protocol, helping manage a newsroom of more than 40 people. Prior to that she was a senior producer at Scribd, an assigning editor at NerdWallet, a senior tech editor at Business Insider, and assistant managing editor at CNET, where she also hosted Rumor Has It for CNET TV. She lives outside San Francisco.
You can contact or verify outreach from Karyne by emailing karyne.levy@techcrunch.com.
