Comment by toast0

If you're planning to run in clouds, committing to not buy hardware (during the contract term, presumably) isn't a big imposition. Maybe you switch to a different cloud, and you wouldn't buy hardware for that.

If you want to switch back to on prem, there's probably a way to structure acquiring hardware so it doesn't break the contract. Maybe you lease it, maybe the purchase happens through a related company, maybe there was no way for the contracted cloud to find out...