Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/20079388 (151853ZDEC23) Notable: Japan Inc. sees record capital spending in fiscal 2023, led by EV, AI
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Japan Inc. sees record capital spending in fiscal 2023, led by EV, AI
Capital investment by big Japanese companies is expected to hit a record 31.9 trillion yen ($213 billion) in fiscal 2023 ending next March, shattering the record for the second year running, a Nikkei survey finds.
Spending on plant and equipment is forecast to rise 17.3% from the previous year overall, driven by the demand for electric vehicle (EV) production[not gonna end well that part for sure]and data centers as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes widespread.
The semiannual survey collected revised plans for domestic and overseas capital investment as of the end of October from 874 listed companies and others with capital of 100 million yen or more. Year-on-year growth in spending is likely to be the fastest since fiscal 2000. The Japanese currency's depreciation in the foreign exchange market has pushed up the value of overseas capital investment in yen terms-see cap 2 for the YE strength-
Manufacturing industries increased planned investment 21.0% and nonmanufacturing industries 11.5%.
By industry, only four sectors - paper and pulp, real estate, construction, and mining foresee less capital spending than the previous year. Automakers are beefing up production capacity for EVs and car batteries, both domestically and abroad.
Toyota Motor increased its investment 5.9% to 1.97 trillion yen from its initial plan for the current fiscal year, which was already a record. Honda also revised its plan upward by 10%, mainly due to the weaker yen, We have no intention of slowing down," said Honda Executive Vice President Shinji Aoyama.
The proliferation of AI, which many predict will lift productivity, has increased the volume of data and demand for data centers. Telecom provider KDDI, which acquired a local data center from a Canadian company in June, lifted its invPost too long. Click here to view the full text.