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CapEx Efficiency: New Annualized Cloud Revenue per $1 of Earlier CapEx
CapEx Efficiency: New Annualized Cloud Revenue per $1 of Earlier CapEx#
New annualized cloud revenue per $1 of earlier CapEx: Google rose from 0.25 to 0.42, Microsoft hugs the 0.33 three-year payback line.Draft, pending review
How to read this chart
Trailing-four-quarter incremental cloud revenue divided by trailing-four-quarter CapEx four quarters earlier; Meta has no cloud segment and is excluded. The 0.33 line is a three-year revenue payback, a pass mark rather than excellence: it recovers revenue, not profit, and at roughly 35% cloud operating margin the profit payback is 8 to 9 years, beyond a server's six-year life. Judge by trend and by peers.
Source: FinSight compilation and estimates · Updated 2026-09-03
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