Finance leases and capex
A finance lease lets a company use an asset it does not buy outright; the asset and a matching liability go on the balance sheet, but no purchase appears in capital expenditures.
Data center capacity is often leased rather than built. When it is, the cash flow statement records lease payments over the term, mostly in the financing section as principal repayments, and the headline capex understates the capacity actually added.
Companies know this, which is why capex guidance frequently includes finance leases while the reported line does not. A reader comparing guidance with the cash flow statement is comparing two definitions.
How this site measures it
This site reports cash purchases of property and equipment. Lease-financed assets are not added to it. Where a filing discloses property and equipment acquired under finance leases, the company page notes the figure beside the statement.
Questions this page answers
- Why not add leases to capex?
- Because the lease commitment is spread over years and the asset may be returned, and because adding one company’s disclosed leases and not another’s would make the companies incomparable. The site keeps the filed definition and names the difference.
Where it is used
Every company page states it, for example Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Oracle, and the companies page sorts all twenty-one. It decides the questions debt-funded spending.
Related terms: Capital expenditures (capex), Accrued capex.