Machine Payroll
This chart translates quarterly hyperscaler capital expenditure into the equivalent number of median annual U.S. salaries. It combines SEC capex for five large technology companies with BLS earnings data; the result is a scale analogy, not an estimate of jobs displaced or workers replaced.
What does it show?
Quarterly hyperscaler investment now equals the annual pay of millions of median U.S. workers.
Methodology
Sum of quarterly capital expenditure for Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Oracle, using only quarters reported by all five companies. The sum is divided by BLS median usual weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers (LES1252881500Q) multiplied by 52; the result is expressed in millions of annual salary-equivalents. The capex chart's Total display line is excluded.