CapEx
Capital Expenditure. Big, long-term purchases (buildings, servers, equipment) that get depreciated over years. The opposite of OpEx, and the reason Finance asks so many questions about your hardware request.
Heard in the wild
“New laptops for the whole team? That's CapEx — it needs VP sign-off and a business case.”
Tone check: Technical
Accounting-precise. Misusing CapEx vs. OpEx in front of Finance will get you gently corrected. Publicly.