How Come Tech Companies Are Spending Record Amounts on Fixed Assets?

Capital expenditures by the biggest tech companies are setting records, with Google leading the way.

Which underscores the amounts of tangible investment required to support the continued growth of the intangibly-driven internet - or suggests that the crash in tech stock prices has yet to influence their budgeting decisions. JL

Barry Ritholtz reports in The Big Picture via Re/code:

Tech companies are spending record amounts on fixed assets. The biggest tech companies — Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft — are acquiring everything from real estate to data centers to warehouses in order to keep up with customer demand and each other. It remains to be seen whether investing all this cash will put more distance between these companies and their competitors or if it will just be another burden on their balance sheets.

Tech companies are spending record amounts on fixed assets
Internet companies are pushing capital expenditure to new heights. The biggest tech companies — Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft — are acquiring everything from real estate to data centers to warehouses in order to keep up with customer demand and each other. It remains to be seen whether investing all this cash will put more distance between these companies and their competitors or if it will just be another burden on their balance sheets.

Here are all 5 companies historical capex spending in 5 charts:

Google

Facebook 

Apple

Amazon

Microsoft

Source: Recode