The firms using it replace lumpy capital expenditure on rickety bespoke it with a variable payment for a service that can easily expand its capacity as needed.
Last year global capital expenditure on wind and solar assets grew from $357bn to $490bn, surpassing investment in new and existing oil and gas wells for the first time.
The share of operating cashflows reinvested by American firms in new capital expenditure and research and development has declined over the past decade to 27%, from over 40% in 2009.
The $25bn that, according to consultants at BCG, the world spent on industrial robots in 2020 was less than 1% of global capital expenditure (excluding the energy and mining sectors).
Maybe it is also a cost issue right now. The company's trying to lower capital expenditures right now to get the profit lineup, because that was one of the commitments to reduce costs by $5 billion.