Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai touted Google Cloud’s cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), and data analytics prowess on his company’s third-quarter 2021 earnings call where he reported both a profit and earnings beat.

“In 2016, I laid out our vision to become an AI-first company,” Pichai said, during his prepared remarks. “Five years later, this quarter’s results show how our investments in AI are building more helpful products for people and for our partners and local communities … And as the digital transformation and shift to hybrid work continue, our cloud services are helping organizations collaborate and stay secure.

Overall, the company grew its revenue 41% year over year to a record $65.12 billion and record profits of $18.94 billion, or $27.99 per share.

Additionally, Google’s cloud revenue jumped 45% to $4.99 billion, while operating loss narrowed to $644 million from $1.21 billion a year ago. Google Cloud includes both Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and its Workspace (formerly G Suite). And GCP’s revenue “was again above cloud overall, reflecting significant growth in both infrastructure and platform services,” Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said.

Google has invested heavily in its cloud platform and services over the past several years as it attempts to steal market share and enterprise business from Amazon and Microsoft. No. 2 cloud provider Microsoft also reported its quarterly earnings on Tuesday, and while Microsoft doesn't disclose its Azure revenue in dollars, it did say Azure revenue grew 50% compared to a year ago.

Also on the call, Pichai touted Google Cloud’s “hundreds of new capabilities, services, and solutions” unveiled during its Cloud Next event that took place earlier this month. “More than any other top cloud provider, Google Cloud has unique capabilities to meet the needs of enterprises, digital natives and SMBs around the world,” he said.

He highlighted Google Cloud’s “leadership in real-time data analytics and AI,” including its BigQuery data warehouse product.

“Second, customers see value in our open, scalable infrastructure that enables them to run workloads anywhere — on our cloud, at the edge, or in their data centers,” Pichai said.

And finally, customers are coming to Google Cloud and Workspace for its security features, he said, noting the new Google Cybersecurity Action Team and Work Safer program unveiled at Cloud Next.

“Security continues to be an increasing area of focus and a differentiator for us,” Pichai said, noting Google’s two-decades worth of cybersecurity investment and pioneering work in zero trust. “So as cybersecurity elevates” and becomes a top concern “across companies I talk to and CEOs, it’s definitely been an area” of ongoing investment.