Google is ‘roaring back’ with Gemini 3

Alphabet’s (GOOGL) new Gemini 3 model is getting praise from all walks of tech land.

“Google is roaring back,” former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger told Yahoo Finance on Market Catalysts (video above). Gelsinger says he has been impressed with Gemini 3 and Google’s ability to ramp up demand for its AI chips known as TPUs (tensor processing units).

Taken together, these advances should help bring the cost of AI down.

“Competition is a great thing. And we need more cost effective AI,” Gelsinger added.

Gemini 3 debuted to widespread acclaim a few weeks ago. The search giant said in November that its Gemini platform had more than 650 million monthly active users (MAUs). That marked a sizable increase from the 450 million users it disclosed in July.

Rival OpenAI has said it has 800 million weekly active users for ChatGPT.

“Holy s—. I’ve used ChatGPT every day for 3 years. Just spent 2 hours on Gemini 3. I’m not going back,” Salesforce (CRM) co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff wrote on X. “The leap is insane — reasoning, speed, images, video… everything is sharper and faster. It feels like the world just changed, again.”

With Google seemingly closing the gap with OpenAI, the latter reportedly declared a “code red” alert to its internal teams this week. The message: pick up the pace of innovation and keep Google at bay.

Since Google released Gemini 3, its stock price is up 16% versus a 1.7% gain for the S&P 500 (^GSPC). OpenAI remains the highest valued startup at $500 billion, according to Yahoo Finance private companies data, edging out Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Gelsinger is well down the path of the new phase of his corporate career. After abruptly stepping down from Intel in December 2024 — following tension with the board — he resurfaced as executive chair of semiconductor startup xLight in March 2025.

The company, which touts that it’s “building the world’s most powerful lasers,” recently announced a $150 million letter of intent with the US Commerce Department. The non-binding agreement is reportedly partially funded by the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to restore US semiconductor leadership.

Though preliminary and subject to revision, the deal signals interest on Capitol Hill in the nascent technology.

Gelsinger noted that the Trump administration’s approach toward chip manufacturing has been focused on trade policies and research incentives.

He said the Trump administration is doing a better job at restoring chip leadership than the Biden administration.

“I’ve been critical that the last administration took much too long to get funds [from the Chips Act] dispensed. We’re competing with the world,” Gelsinger added.