capital expenditure

American  

noun

Accounting, Finance.

1. an addition to the value of fixed assets, as by the purchase of a new building.

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capital expenditure British  

noun

1. expenditure on acquisitions of or improvements to fixed assets

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capital expenditure Cultural  

1. The purchase of an asset by a firm.

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Etymology

Origin of capital expenditure

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Large firms plan to increase capital expenditure by 3.3% in the current business year, the tankan showed, compared with the 10.9% rise planned the previous year.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

The bank expects softer advertising momentum and higher AI capital expenditure to keep margins under pressure.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

Cole Smead, CEO and portfolio manager of Smead Capital Management, talked about the mania in American capital expenditure cycles, with hyperscalers spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI.

From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026

Perhaps investors were comparing it with Amazon’s planned $200 billion capital expenditure this year—the largest among the major tech companies—and fear 10 years of spending at similar levels.

From Barron's • Mar. 18, 2026

The capital expenditure is �3,127,000 by the local authorities and �12,530,000 by the companies, and their aggregate capacity of plant is 165,000 k.w.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 2 "Ehud" to "Electroscope" by Various