It's definitely a comparative underdog regardless, but if you think Alphabet spends anywhere near 40% on search you're out of your mind. I'd be shocked if their spend is double-digits. I'd be unsurprised if it's <1%.

I doubt 40% is spent on search. Seeing how bad Google has gotten, it seems more likely there is just a skeleton crew keeping the lights on

The https://memex.marginalia.nu/ search engine runs basically on one desktop computer (if I recall, the creator made a post on this a week or so ago).

How much of what google spends on "search" is strictly for search, vs business goals related to search?

How much of that google spend is salary? What are those salaries? How do they compare with EU post-doc salaries?

I would be shocked if Alphabet spent >5% on search. But even 1% would dwarf this project.