Also, paying for cloud compute is an operating expense vs the capital expense of buying hardware yourself. I'm not going to pretend to know all of the tax impl

Also, paying for cloud compute is an operating expense vs the capital expense of buying hardware yourself. I'm not going to pretend to know all of the tax implications, but it can actually make a significant difference to the company because the operating expense can be fully written off. The cost is therefore offset slightly vs depreciating the value of physical hardware over a number of years.