AI EncyclopediaChips & deep techData centers & power
Capital expenditure (CAPEX)
설비 투자(CAPEX)
Money spent to get things that will be used for a long time, such as buildings and equipment. In AI, it mostly means money spent on data centers and chips.
Overview
A company's spending falls into two broad kinds. Some money disappears when you spend it, like salaries and electricity bills. Other money goes to things you buy once and use for many years, like factories, buildings and machines. The second kind is capital expenditure. The English abbreviation is CAPEX.
In AI news, the word usually means the money large tech companies spend to build data centers and buy AI chips. When this money grows, companies that make chips, servers and power equipment get more work. Meanwhile, optimists and worriers are split over whether that spending can be earned back through AI services.
An everyday example
For a bakery, money spent on flour is day-to-day spending, and money spent on a big new oven is capital expenditure. The oven's cost has to be made back by selling bread over the next several years.
Why it matters
Every time big tech companies report their results, their capital spending plans become big news. People read the figure as a gauge of whether the AI boom will continue or whether there is too much investment.
Also calledCAPEX, capital spending