Big Tech CapEx-to-Revenue Ratio: Quarterly Capital Intensity for AAPL, MSFT, GOOGL, AMZN, META, NVDA Since 2015

The Big Tech CapEx-to-Revenue Ratio measures the share of revenue that the six largest US tech firms reinvest in property, plant and equipment each quarter. This Eco3min composite covers Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and NVIDIA across 210 data points from 2015 through early 2026, extracted programmatically from SEC EDGAR 10-K and 10-Q filings via the XBRL API. The Big Tech CapEx-to-Revenue Ratio isolates capex intensity per dollar of revenue — a sharper signal than absolute dollar CapEx, which mechanically grows with company size.

Summary: latest quarter vs. 2019 average

2019 avg. = mean of available quarters. Latest quarter varies by fiscal calendar. Change in percentage points.

Methodology

All data extracted programmatically from the SEC EDGAR XBRL API. Revenue = RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax (or Revenues for NVIDIA). CapEx = PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment (or PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets for Amazon and recent NVIDIA filings).

SEC XBRL reports cash flow items as year-to-date cumulative figures. Individual quarterly values were derived by subtracting the prior cumulative period. Only ~90-day segments were retained.

Note: CapEx here is cash paid for PP&E from the cash flow statement. It does not include finance lease obligations, which some companies report separately in their CapEx guidance.

The Python script used to extract and process this data is open-source: github.com/eco3min/sec-capex-tracker.

Python reproduction code

# Fetch Big Tech quarterly CapEx and Revenue from SEC EDGAR XBRL API
# Full script: github.com/eco3min/sec-capex-tracker

import json, urllib.request

# SEC requires a valid User-Agent
HEADERS = {"User-Agent": "YourName [email protected]"}

def fetch_facts(cik):
    url = f"https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK{cik}.json"
    req = urllib.request.Request(url, headers=HEADERS)
    with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as r:
        return json.loads(r.read())

# Example: Microsoft (CIK 0000789019)
facts = fetch_facts("0000789019")
us_gaap = facts["facts"]["us-gaap"]

# Revenue = RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax
# CapEx   = PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment
# Note: values are YTD cumulative — subtract successive
# periods to recover individual quarters. See full script.

SEC EDGAR 10-K filings: MSFT · META · AMZN · GOOGL · AAPL · NVDA

Cite as: Eco3min, “Big Tech CapEx as % of Revenue — Quarterly Dataset (2015–2026),” eco3min.fr, April 2026.

Last updated — 4 August 2026