Net Business Investment (% of GDP)
Net business investment is what private businesses spend on equipment and intellectual property products (software, research and development, and entertainment and artistic originals) minus the consumption of fixed capital on those same assets, divided by nominal GDP. Gross spending counts every purchase; the net figure counts only the part that adds to the capital stock after wear and obsolescence. Structures such as factories, offices and data-center buildings are outside it. The series is annual from 1929 and comes from BEA's national accounts.
Net investment (% of GDP)
- Gross investment (% of GDP)
- 11.04%
- Depreciation (% of GDP)
- 8.99%99th pctile
Latest reading
As of 2025, US businesses' net investment in equipment and intellectual property equals 2.06% of GDP: the highest reading since 2018, and the 30th highest of 97 years since 1929. The record is 3.40% in 2000. The prior reading was 1.78%. A positive reading means the business stock of machines and intellectual property is growing; below zero it is shrinking, which happened through the Depression and the Second World War. Equipment and software wear out fast, so depreciation absorbs most of gross spending and a small change in gross investment moves the net figure a lot. Read the depreciation view beside it: when spending tilts toward short-lived assets such as computers and software, depreciation rises and the same gross outlay buys less net growth. Annual figures arrive with BEA's annual update, usually in late September, so the latest year is always last year; release dates before the vintage record are estimated from the median publication lag. Series history runs from 1929 to present.
Sources, methodology & freshnessBEA via FRED: net equipment (Y081RC1A027NBEA) + net IPP (Y084RC1A027NBEA) ÷ GDP (GDPA); depreciation from Y080RC1A027NBEA and Y083RC1A027NBEA; annual · Annual, with every releaseData as of 2025-01-01 · Open ↓Close ↑
Full history
Net investment and its two parts
Depreciation
Consumption of fixed capital on equipment and intellectual property, as a share of GDP: what wear and obsolescence take out of the capital stock each year. Net investment is gross spending minus this line, so a rising depreciation share means more of each year's spending only replaces what wore out.
Gross investment
Gross private investment in equipment and intellectual property as a share of GDP, before depreciation. The gap between this line and the depreciation view is the net figure the page leads with.
Methodology & data
Net Business Investment is computed by thetrading.tools from BEA data (BEA via FRED: net equipment (Y081RC1A027NBEA) + net IPP (Y084RC1A027NBEA) ÷ GDP (GDPA); depreciation from Y080RC1A027NBEA and Y083RC1A027NBEA; annual). We pull the complete history, chart it on a annual basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Every reading is stamped with its release date. Latest observation 2025-01-01; site refreshed 2026-10-03. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Net Business Investment (% of GDP)?
Net business investment is what private businesses spend on equipment and intellectual property products (software, research and development, and entertainment and artistic originals) minus the consumption of fixed capital on those same assets, divided by nominal GDP. Gross spending counts every purchase; the net figure counts only the part that adds to the capital stock after wear and obsolescence. Structures such as factories, offices and data-center buildings are outside it. The series is annual from 1929 and comes from BEA's national accounts.
How do you read Net Business Investment?
A positive reading means the business stock of machines and intellectual property is growing; below zero it is shrinking, which happened through the Depression and the Second World War. Equipment and software wear out fast, so depreciation absorbs most of gross spending and a small change in gross investment moves the net figure a lot. Read the depreciation view beside it: when spending tilts toward short-lived assets such as computers and software, depreciation rises and the same gross outlay buys less net growth. Annual figures arrive with BEA's annual update, usually in late September, so the latest year is always last year; release dates before the vintage record are estimated from the median publication lag.
Where does the Net Business Investment data come from?
BEA via FRED: net equipment (Y081RC1A027NBEA) + net IPP (Y084RC1A027NBEA) ÷ GDP (GDPA); depreciation from Y080RC1A027NBEA and Y083RC1A027NBEA; annual. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/net-business-investment.csv.
How often is Net Business Investment updated?
Net Business Investment is a annual series from BEA, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.
Net investment (% of GDP)
- Gross investment (% of GDP)
- 11.04%
- Depreciation (% of GDP)
- 8.99%99th pctile