Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported sales that narrowly fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, weighed down by disappointing growth in its cloud-computing division, which sells the company’s artificial intelligence tools to other businesses.

The Silicon Valley giant reported revenue of $96.5 billion in its most recent quarter, an increase of 12 percent from a year earlier, but short of the $96.6 billion that Wall Street analysts had expected. Profit was $26.5 billion, a 28 percent increase that narrowly beat analysts’ estimate of $26 billion.

Google’s cloud division has become an essential component of the company’s move to generative artificial intelligence, the technology that has created a spending boom in Silicon Valley and beyond. Google Cloud’s sales were $11.96 billion in the fourth quarter, an increase of 30 percent from a year earlier, but short of the $12.2 billion that analysts had expected.

The results raised questions about whether A.I. will prove an advantage for Google Cloud,rpjili com which remains smaller than competing services from Amazon and Microsoft. Alphabet has invested an enormous amount to try to bolster its A.I. offerings, amid investor concerns that American companies may be spending too much on A.I. relative to their Chinese counterparts.

The internet giant announced it would spend $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025, from $52.5 billion last year, a difference of more than $22 billion that could have otherwise added to the company’s profits.

Alphabet’s stock tumbled about 7 percent in aftermarket trading.

The company’s executives said that the robust spending was essential, on a call with analysts after the results were released. Google Cloud has more demand for A.I. tools than capacity to provide customers with them, said Anat Ashkenazi, Alphabet’s chief financial officer. The company is working hard to bring more capacity online and ease the constraints, she added.

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The Republican preparations have taken place at Mr. Vance’s home in Cincinnati and in online sessions with members of his own inner circle and Jason Miller, a Trump campaign strategist. Mr. Vance’s team also pointed to his frequent media interactions on the campaign trail as helpful prep for the debate spotlight. Mr. Vance has offered a potential preview of his debate strategy by repeatedly questioning Mr. Walz over his military service and attacking him as an out-of-touch liberal.

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