Report
EUR 8957.00 For Business Accounts Only

Breaking Down AI D&A + 1st Take on Electricity, Software & Other Costs

As AI capex investments continue to grow for GOOGL, AMZN and META, we have been getting two questions from investors more frequently: 1) how will this impact out-year depreciation & amortization? 2) what’s the cost of electricity and other cash costs to operate modern AI servers and their data centers?
• We are rolling out detailed estimates for depreciation of AI capex, split between servers (6-year estimated life) and buildings and equipment (20-year estimated life).
• We have some initial bottom-up work on electricity expenses to operate AI data centers, and some initial thoughts on other cash costs, including software licenses, water for cooling, and labor/maintenance.
Underlyings
Alphabet Inc. Class A

Alphabet is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is engaged in a collection of businesses, which its primary business is Google. The company reports all non-Google businesses collectively as Other Bets. Google's main products and platforms are Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Play, Search, and YouTube. The company also provides advertisers with tools that help them attribute and measure their advertising campaigns. In addition, Other Bets includes Access, Calico, CapitalG, GV, Verily, Waymo, and X, among others. Other Bets primarily engages in the sales of internet and TV services through Access as well as licensing and research and development services through Verily.

Amazon.com Inc.

Amazon.com serves consumers through its online and physical stores. The company also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablet, Fire TV, Echo, and Ring, and the company develops and produces media content. The company operates customer service centers and provides programs that enable sellers to grow their businesses, sell their products in its stores, and fulfill orders through the company The company serves developers and enterprises of various sizes, including start-ups, government agencies, and academic institutions, through its Amazon Web Services segment, which provides a set of global compute, storage, database, and other service offerings. The company also provides services, such as advertising.

Facebook Inc. Class A

Facebook is building and engaging products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and in-home devices. The company's products include: Facebook, which enables people to connect, share, discover, and communicate with each other on mobile devices and personal computers; Instagram, which is a place where people can express themselves through photos, videos, and private messaging, and explore their interests in businesses, creators and communities; Messenger and WhatsApp, which are messaging applications; and Oculus, which connects people through its Oculus virtual reality products.

Provider
New Street Research
New Street Research

Provided by our team of experienced analysts, our work is idea driven, based on independence of thought, sector expertise, and firmly focussed on fundamentals and valuation.

New Street Research is an independent, partner-owned, research firm specialising in equity and debt research. Our equity research embraces the following sectors:

  • Pan European Telecom Services and Cable
  • US Telecoms, Cable, Satellite and Towers
  • Global Emerging Market Telecoms
  • Japan Telecoms
  • Asian Internet
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  • Global healthcare thematic research

We provide debt research on:

  • Pan European Telecom Services and Cable


Analysts
Dan Salmon

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