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

See Examples For:

capital expenditure

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet next week, or in the Middle East — the market’s best hope for big upside is a peak in hyperscaler capital expenditure, the strategists say.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

The Chinese technology company’s capital-efficient strategy aims to achieve higher growth with relatively lower capital expenditure, reducing need to issue new shares, she says in a note.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

The upshot of this would be EPS-negative, lowering earnings per share expectations, Hartnett observes, but, overall, the political changes would challenge the K-shaped wealth boom and the surge of AI capital expenditure.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

Moody’s says heavy AI capital expenditure will likely pressure free cash flow and increase leverage for both U.S. and Chinese tech companies over the next 12 to 24 months.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

The original scheme, it was stated, was too large and ambitious, and the association was weighted at the outset with a capital expenditure and an annual working outlay beyond its strength and capacity. 

From Norfolk Annals A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century, Vol. 2 by Charles Mackie