Hyperscaler server useful lives (10-K estimates)
Estimated useful life of servers and network equipment each hyperscaler states in its 10-K, in years, quoted verbatim: Amazon (a subset cut to five years from 2025), Microsoft (two to six), Alphabet (six), Meta (extended to 5.5 from 2025). The band input is Amazon's, the only one to shorten.
Reason through thisThe reading
Estimates diverge: Amazon shortened a subset to five years, Meta lengthened to 5.5, Alphabet and Microsoft hold at six. No filer shortened in 2026.
1 reading drawn from sec_filing.amzn.server_useful_life_years.fy, one of 4 series listed under How it is measured; 4 observations in the evidence.
Source: SEC EDGAR filings (8-K, 6-K, 10-Q exhibits). SEC EDGAR archives.
The numbers
| as of | reading | value | record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | amzn | 5.00 years | measured |
Why it matters
Depreciation is where the capex bet meets the income statement. A lengthening life flatters margins; a shortening one says the hardware is turning over faster than the accountants assumed.
What cuts against it
Ranges rather than points at Microsoft; a subset at Amazon; the estimate says what the filer chooses to assume, not how long the hardware lasts.
How it is measured
- series
sec_filing.amzn.server_useful_life_years.fy - series
sec_filing.msft.server_useful_life_years.fy - series
sec_filing.googl.server_useful_life_years.fy - series
sec_filing.meta.server_useful_life_years.fy - source SEC EDGAR filings (8-K, 6-K, 10-Q exhibits) · default tier 4 · Public domain (U.S. government)
- proxy capital_flow · cadence annual
Two annual readings; a change under half a year is rounding. A shorter life means faster hardware turnover and thinner margins for the layer, so shortening reads as dispersing.
Applied to sec_filing.amzn.server_useful_life_years.fy.
Latest readings
- 2025-12-31 amzn · 5.00 yearsas of 2025-12-31
Why this status, and its history
It has 1 reading and its direction rule compares 3, so it reads emerging rather than not yet measurable: the site uses not yet measurable only for what cannot be measured at all. The status turns into a direction once enough readings exist.
- 2026-09-27not yet measurable to emergingconf 65 → 65 · Claude (model)
It has 1 reading and its direction rule compares 3, so it reads emerging rather than not yet measurable: the site uses not yet measurable only for what cannot be measured at all. The status turns into a direction once enough readings exist.
Weighed against it: None needed: no reading has changed; this corrects the word used for too few readings.
source1 - 2026-09-10unmeasured to not yet measurableconf — → 65 · the evaluator (automatic)
First reading. Amazon's FY2025 10-K states a subset of servers and networking equipment moved from six to five years from 1 January 2025; Meta lengthened to 5.5 years, Alphabet holds six and Microsoft states two to six. One annual point per filer, so the direction rule cannot run yet: not yet measurable.
source1
Why this confidence
Rests on 4 observations from SEC EDGAR filings (8-K, 6-K, 10-Q exhibits); best evidence tier 4, grade A; current.
Confidence is independent of status: 90–95 multiple strong independent sources; 70–89 good evidence, some ambiguity; 50–69 mixed or hard to operationalise; 0–49 limited or vague evidence.