What Palo Alto Networks' $10bn deal with Google Cloud means for customers

Palo Alto Networks is set to shift key security workloads to Google Cloud as part of a multi-billion deal that expands the companies' existing partnership.

The security firm and cloud giant said the deal aimed to make it easier for companies to keep systems and data secure as AI is rolled out – a key concern among many in the industry thanks to a rise in AI-related security incidents.

"Every board is asking how to harness AI's power without exposing the business to new threats," said BJ Jenkins, President of Palo Alto Networks. "This partnership answers that question."

"We're removing the friction between security and development, providing a unified platform where the most advanced security is simply a native part of building what's next,” Jenkins added.

“Together with Google, we are embedding our AI-powered security deep into the Google Cloud fabric, turning the platform itself into a proactive defense system."

Moving to Google

The deal will protect live AI workloads on Google Cloud – making it easier for existing customers of both to maintain security policies and help boost Google Cloud adoption, the companies noted.

Part of this will see Palo Alto Networks migrate key internal workloads to Google Cloud, with Palo Alto shifting to Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform and Gemini large language models (LLMs) to power its AI agents.

Part of the deal will involve creating new security services powered by AI, Jenkins told Reuters.

Matt Renner, president and chief revenue officer at Google Cloud, said that the partnership would make life easier for companies that were already working with both providers on application and data security.

"This latest expansion of our partnership will ensure that our joint customers have access to the right solutions to secure their most critical AI infrastructure and develop new AI agents with security built in from the start," Renner said in a statement.

Neither company has publicly confirmed financial details of the deal, but a source told Reuters that Palo Alto would spend an amount "approaching $10 billion" over the next several years.

The companies have long had a tight partnership, with Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora formerly working at Google.

Securing AI infrastructure

Palo Alto Networks said its recent State of Cloud report revealed that 99% of respondents had identified at least one attack against their AI infrastructure of the previous year.

The new deal with Google Cloud is an attempt to address that challenge by adding security into multi-cloud infrastructure.

That includes end-to-end security for AI workloads and data on Google Cloud using Palo Alto Networks Prisma AIRS platform. This offers enterprises AI-driven firewalls to secure all types of cloud setups and a secure access service edge (SASE) platform to protect network access for remote workers, mobile devices, and branch offices.

"The deep alignment between the two companies ensures that customer solutions are pre-vetted and engineered to work together, removing the integration challenges and operational friction that can slow down security teams," the companies said in a statement.

"This allows customers to deploy protection faster, simplify compliance and gain a single, comprehensive view of security across their entire hybrid multi-cloud environment."

This is the cloud giant's latest security play. Earlier this year, Google announced plans to acquire Wiz security for $32 billion.

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