Goldman Sachs published a research report on capital intensive vs ‘capital light’ businesses on 24 February 2026. The full 23 page research report can be found here, but I will summarise in plain simple English for my readers. This article contains none of my original work.
Higher real yields, geopolitical instability and supply chain rewiring have shifted equity leadership back toward tangible productive assets. Markets are rewarding heavy assets, low obsolescence (HALO) businesses. HALO = intensive physical capital (high cost to replicate in terms of time, finances or complex engineering) + long lived economic relevance.
Fiscal expansion (money printing), higher replacement costs, re-regionalisation (opposite of globalisation) supports capital intensive sectors.
AI has turned greatly reduced margins of some ‘capital light’ businesses and caused some ‘capital light’ businesses to spend a lot more money.
After the 2008 financial crisis, zero interest rates and abundant liquidity (a lot of money in the economy) favoured growth stocks – businesses which are built on scalability and not focused on physical capital. In such a scenario, technological companies and other ‘capital light’ industries which also took advantage of the digital economy and smartphone usage flourished. But COVID, Ukraine war and backtracking on globalisation caused the cost of capital to go up sharply and countries realised the importance of economic resilience. Energy systems, supply chains, infrastructure and national security capabilities are no longer treated as peripheral assets; they have become strategic and scarce, and increasingly priced as such.
At the same time, the AI revolution dealt a blow to ‘capital light’ industries as AI lowers the cost of information processing and compresses differentiation. Such companies see their competitive moats being reduced. At the same time, it causes certain ‘capital light’ companies to become ‘capital intensive’. For example Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle have spent a lot more money to remain competitive in the AI race.
Ranking of Capital Intensive to Capital Light Industries
In order of ranking:
Capital intensive industries – Utilities, basic resources, telecom, airlines
Above average – Energy, auto & parts, travel & leisure, chemicals, luxury, semi-conductors, fiscal infrastructures, health care
Below average – Food & beverage and tobacco, consumer productors and services, retail, construction and materials, industrial goods and services, technology, personal care and food retail, business services, media, digital economy, IT services
Bottom tier – Software
Note 1: This does not necessary mean ranking for investment priority.
Note 2: You may wonder at the ranking. For example why is luxury goods ranked so high up? Although they are not heavy assets, they have low obsolescence due to brand equity, production knowโhow and longโcycle investment in craftsmanship.
Note 3: Personally I do not recommend investing in airlines.
Fortunately, my investments are more or less in line with this research report.
้ซ็ๅจ2026ๅนด2ๆ24ๆฅ็ผ่กจไบไธๅ้ๆผ่ณๆฌๅฏ้ๅ่่ผ่ณ็ขๅไผๆฅญๆฏ่ผ็็ ็ฉถๅ ฑๅใๅ จ23ๆฅญ็็ ็ฉถๅ ฑๅๅฏไปฅๅจ้่ฃกๆพๅฐ๏ผไฝ้่ฃกๆ็บ่ฎ่ ๅฐฑ็จ็ฐกๅฎ็ๅคง็ฝ่ฉฑ่ฌ่งฃไธไธใ้่ฒผๅญๆฒๆไปปไฝๆ่ชๅทฑ็ๅๅตๅ งๅฎนใ
ๆด้ซ็ๅฏฆ้ๆถ็๏ผๅฐ็ทฃๆฟๆฒป็ไธ็ฉฉๅฎๅไพๆ้็้ๆงๆ่กๅธๆ่ณ่ฝๅๆๅฝข็็ขๆง่ณ็ขใๅธๅ ด็ๅตไบ้่ณ็ข๏ผไฝๆทๆฑฐ (HALO = Heavy assets, low obsolescence) ็็ๆใHALO = ๅฏ้็ๅฏฆ็ฉ่ณๆฌ ๏ผไพ๏ผ้่ฆๅคง้ๆ้๏ผ้้ข๏ผ่ค้ๅทฅ็จๆน้ขไพ่ค่ฃฝ็๏ผ+ ้ทๆ็ถๆฟ้่ฆๆง
ๅคงๅฐ้ข + ้ซ้็ฝฎๆๆฌ + ๅปๅ จ็ๅ = ๅฉๅฅฝ่ณๆฌๅฏ้ๅๆฟๅกใ
ๅๆ๏ผไบบๅทฅๆบ่ฝ (AI) ๅคงๅคงๆธๅฐไบ่ผ่ณ็ขๅไผๆฅญ็ๅฉๆฝค๏ผ้่ฟซไฝฟไบไธไบๅไพ็่ผ่ณ็ขๅไผๆฅญไธไบ่กๆฌใ
2009็ถ่ๅฑๆฉๅพ๏ผ้ถๅฉ็ๅ็ถๆฟ่ฃก็ๅคงๆ้ขๅฉๆผๆ้ทๆง่ก็ฅจ – ้ฃไบๅปบ็ซๅจๅฏๆดๅผตๆง็ๅบ็คไธ๏ผ่ไธๅฐๆณจๆผๅฏฆ็ฉ่ณๆฌ็ไผๆฅญใๅจ้็จฎ็ๆณไธ๏ผ็งๆๅ ฌๅธ + ๅฉ็จไบๆธๅญ็ถๆฟๅๆบ่ฝๆๆฉ็ๅ ถไป โ่ผ่ณ็ขโ ่กๆฅญ้ฝ่ตท้ฃไบใไฝ็ซๆ + ไฟ็ๆฐ็ญ + ๅปๅ จ็ๅ ๅฐ่ดไบ่ณๆฌ็ๆๆฌๅคงๅคงๆๅ๏ผๅๅฎถๅไนๆ่ญๅฐไบ็ถๆฟ้ๆง็้่ฆๆงใ่ฝๆบ็ณป็ตฑ๏ผไพๆ้๏ผๅบๅปบ๏ผๅๅฎถๅฎๅ จ่ฝๅไธๅๆฏๅจ้่ณ็ข๏ผ่ๆฏ็จๆ็ๆฐ็ฅ่ณ็ข๏ผๅธๅ ดไน็ธๆ็ๅฎๅบไบๅนไฝใ
ๅๆ๏ผAI้ฉๅฝ็ตฆไบ่ผ่ณ็ข่กๆฅญไธๅ้ๆใๅ ็บAI้ไฝไบไฟกๆฏ่็็ๆๆฌ๏ผๅฃ็ธฎไบๅทฎ็ฐๆงใ้ไบๅ ฌๅธ็ๅฐไบ่ชๅทฑ็่ญทๅๆฒณ่ขซๅๅผฑใ่ๆไบๅ ฌๅธๅๅพ่ผ่ณ็ข่ฎๆๅฏ้่ณ็ข๏ผไพๅฆไบ้ฆฌ้๏ผ่ฐทๆญ๏ผMeta๏ผๅพฎ่ปๅ็ฒ้ชจๆ็บไบๅจAI็ซถ่ณฝไธญไฟๆ็ซถ็ญๅ่ๆๅ ฅไบๅพๅค้ขใ
่ณ็ขๅฏ้ๅฐ่ผ่ณ็ข่กๆฅญๆๅ
ไปฅ้ ๅบๆๅ๏ผ
ๅฏ้่ณ็ข – ๅ
ฌๅ
ฑไบๆฅญ๏ผๅบ็ค่ณๆบ๏ผ้ปไฟก๏ผ่ช็ฉบ
้ซๆผๅนณๅ – ่ฝๆบ๏ผๆฑฝ่ป่้ถไปถ๏ผๆ
้่ไผ้๏ผๅๅทฅ๏ผๅฅขไพๅ๏ผๅๅฐ้ซ๏ผ่ฒกๆฟๅบ็ค่จญๆฝ๏ผ้ซ็ไฟๅฅ
ไฝๆผๅนณๅ – ้ค้ฃฒๅ็
่๏ผๆถ่ฒปๅๅๆๅ๏ผ้ถๅฎ๏ผๅปบ็ฏ่ๆๆ๏ผๅทฅๆฅญ็ขๅ่ๆๅ๏ผ็งๆ๏ผๅไบบ่ญท็ๅ้ฃๅ้ถๅฎ๏ผๅๆฅญๆๅ๏ผๅช้ซ๏ผๆธๅญ็ถๆฟ๏ผITๆๅ
ๅบๅฑค – ่ปไปถ
่จป1๏ผ้ไธไปฃ่กจๆ่ณ็ๅชๅ
้ ๅบใ
่จป2๏ผไฝ ๅฏ่ฝๆๆณ้ๆ่ก้ ๅบๆ้บผ้ฃ้บผๅฅๆชใ็บไป้บผๅฅขไพๅ็ๅฎไฝ้ฃ้บผ้ซใ้ฃๆฏๅ ็บ้็ถไธๆฏๅฏ้่ณ็ข่กๆฅญ๏ผไฝๅ ็บๅ็ๅนๅผ๏ผ็็ขๆ่ก๏ผ้ทๆ้ๆๅ
ฅ็ๆๅทฅ่๏ผไธๅฎนๆ่ขซๆทๆฑฐใ
่จป3๏ผๅไบบไธๅปบ่ญฐๆๅ
ฅ่ช็ฉบใ
ๆ ถๅนธๆ็ๆ่ณ็ตๅๅคง่ดไธๅ้ๅ็ ็ฉถๅ ฑๅ็ๆ่ฆไธ่ดใ
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