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A comment on Nvidia is now a $1T company. Parent comment

Re:Nvidia is now a $1T company by lumost on Wednesday May 31, 2023 @03:17AM (#36135442)
Software R&D is a special type of capex, in principal - successful R&D execution buys recurring free cash flow in near perpetuity. Contrast this with TSMC who needs to outlay ~50 Billion every 2 years on a new Fab which will deprecate over ~6-7 years. If TSMC stopped buying fabs, then intel would beat them in ~2 years time - and TSMC would be out of business in 6-7 years.

Software R&D may be less efficient then the above math would imply, but there is a big range between perpetuity and some depreciating time horizon. R&D can also boosts growth prospects by expanding markets.

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Re:Nvidia is now a $1T company by Sohcahtoa82 on Wednesday May 31, 2023 @12:10PM (#36140016)
> Contrast this with TSMC who needs to outlay ~50 Billion every 2 years on a new Fab which will deprecate over ~6-7 years.

Oof, that's the bit I forgot. TSMC's CapEx isn't just expansion, it's replacement. They're constantly upgrading to manufacture new technologies.

It makes sense now, thank you.

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