Gemini

Alphabet

Alphabet shares closed down 4.4% on Thursday, erasing about $200 billion in market value, after reports that Google delayed its <a href="https://yellow.com/news/gemini-spark-promises-agentic-work-privacy-fears" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">flagship Gemini</a> 3.5 Pro model.
<h2 id="key-points">Key Points:</h2>
<blockquote>
 <ul>
 <li>Alphabet shed close to $200 billion in market value during Thursday's steep selloff.</li>
 <li>Google confirmed it is still testing Gemini 3.5 Pro and an upgraded Flash model with partners.</li>
 <li>Weak coding results have kept the flagship model months past its promised June launch.</li>
 </ul>
</blockquote>
<h2 id="gemini-delay-hits-alphabet-stock">Gemini Delay Hits Alphabet Stock</h2>
Google <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/gemini-3-5-pro-delayed-over-coding-bloomberg-reports/582660/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">unveiled</a> Gemini 3.5 Pro in May at its annual developer conference, billing it as the company's most powerful model and promising a broad public rollout the very next month. That June deadline slipped by without any update from the company. The flagship has since fallen months behind schedule, according to a report that <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/16/alphabet-stock-gemini-3-5-pro-ai.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">cited</a> current and former employees familiar with the internal deliberations.
Roughly ten of those people described deep frustration inside Google, with several warning that the company risks a lasting loss of momentum against nimbler competitors. The model's coding performance, in particular, had landed well short of the internal targets set for it before any wider release.
Rivals now sense a rare opening in the code-generation race that Google long expected to dominate.
Also Read:<a href="https://yellow.com/news/solana-77-dex-volume-surge" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Solana Reclaims $77 As $4.15B DEX Surge Tests Bullish Momentum</a>
<h2 id="openai-meta-widen-coding-lead">OpenAI, Meta Widen Coding Lead</h2>
The setback arrives just as OpenAI and Meta push out new systems that <a href="https://www.marketscreener.com/news/alphabet-shares-slide-after-reports-of-a-delay-to-gemini-3-5-pro-ce7f5ed3dc88f42c" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">outperform</a> Google at writing software code, an area that has become the central battleground for the leading labs. Google <a href="https://9to5google.com/2026/07/16/gemini-3-5-pro-delays/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">updated</a> the data behind Gemini late last month in an effort to sharpen those skills, yet the results disappointed staff. A spokesperson <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/tech/26/07/60512118/alphabet-stock-sinks-on-reports-of-google-gemini-delays" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said</a> the company is still testing 3.5 Pro and an upgraded Flash model with a group of outside partners.
Google added that it remains in close contact with the US government on model testing and the broader safety frameworks now shaping the industry. The single-day drop dwarfed the company's own projected 2026 capital spending, which it has <a href="https://ts2.tech/en/alphabet-nasdaq-googl-loses-nearly-200-billion-in-market-value-following-report-of-gemini-3-5-pro-delay/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">guided</a> toward $180 billion to $190 billion.
Some traders <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/googl-stock-falls-5-google-204409196.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">brushed</a> off the selloff as an overreaction, pointing out that Alphabet stock still sits up roughly 14% for the year.
Google has leaned on Gemini as the centerpiece of its AI strategy since launching the 3.5 Flash version at that same May event.
The earlier 3.1 Pro model dates all the way back to February. Each fresh slip now feeds worries that Anthropic and other rivals are steadily pulling ahead, with second-quarter results due next Wednesday.
Read Next:<a href="https://yellow.com/news/spacex-erases-800b-ipo-price" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SpaceX Erases Over $800B As Stock Falls Below IPO Price</a>

Gemini 3.5 Pro Delay Hits Alphabet: How Much AI-Race Ground Did Google Lose?

Table of Contents

Yellow News

Other articles published on Jul 17, 2026

Join our free newsletter for daily crypto updates!