Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) closed at $279.84 on Friday, down $3.98, or roughly 1%, while pre-market quotes later showed the stock trading near $283.51, a gain of about 1%. The move followed a Bloomberg report that Google is in talks with the Department of Defense over a data security effort inside the $185 billion Golden Dome missile defense program.

Golden Dome is President Donald Trump's plan to shield the United States from foreign attack using layered defenses that would extend from the ground into space. The initiative took shape after Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 calling for a next-generation missile defense shield. Any role for Google would mark the company's first publicly known work on the program. Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the discussions are not public.

What the Talks Cover

The Pentagon is establishing an industry group charged with protecting the data that feeds Golden Dome's command and control software, and several companies are likely to take part, according to the report. Discussions with Google center on the company's data storage, networking, and cybersecurity capabilities. The aim is to keep information flowing even if adversaries cut off landlines, cell towers, or other communication links. The emphasis on resilient connectivity matters because the program's command and control software depends on that data reaching it intact, even under attack.

The conversations remain at an early stage, and plans could still change. Aalyria Technologies, a networking company spun out of Google, is part of the group, and a Pentagon official told Bloomberg the office may explore early concepts. No final decision has been made on the formation of the group or on which companies would ultimately join.

The new data security effort would plug into a parallel initiative: a group that includes Anduril, Palantir, and SpaceX is already building Golden Dome's command and control software. That software layer is intended to unify military hardware, radar networks, and weapons platforms across the armed forces, replacing systems that once operated in isolation.

SpaceX won a $2.29 billion Space Force contract in May to build the Golden Dome backbone. In March, Gen. Michael Guetlein, who runs the program, said the Pentagon had added $10 billion to its cost, bringing the estimated total to $185 billion.

Google's History With the Pentagon

Google's relationship with the Defense Department has shifted considerably in recent years. In 2018, thousands of Google employees protested Project Maven, a Pentagon AI contract that involved applying machine learning to military drone footage, and Google subsequently chose not to renew the agreement. Since then, Alphabet has built out dedicated government business units, and in April, Google signed a classified AI deal with the Pentagon. Shortly afterward, Google DeepMind's UK staff voted to unionise, with 98% in favor. A Golden Dome role would extend that trajectory further, moving Google's defense work beyond AI services into the data infrastructure of the missile defense shield itself.

Google and Aalyria declined to comment to Bloomberg, and TNW said it has not independently verified the report. With the discussions at an early stage and no final decision made, the clearest markers of progress would be a formal Pentagon announcement forming the industry group, the naming of participating companies, and any confirmation from Google about the scope of its potential role.

Source: CoinCentral