Although it used them for years, the first mention by Google of PCIe switches was probably in the 2022 Aquila paper, which doesn't really talk about storage anyway...
I don't understand why you would expect Google to state that. They have been standard technology for almost 2 decades. You don't see google claiming they use jtag or using SPI flash or whatever. It's just not special.
Google didn't invent the Clos network, either, but it took years before they started talking about its adoption and with what kind of proprietary twists. Same with power supplies. You're right, a PCIe switch is not special, unless maybe it's integrated in some unconventional way. It's in Google's DNA to be cagey by default on a lot of details, to avoid giving ideas to the competition. Or misleading others down rabbit holes, like with shipping container datacenters.
No, it dismisses technology until it does a 180 and then pretends it innovated in ways everyone is too stupid to understand. Google exceptionalism 101.