Unless, or rather until, it hits diminishing returns on resource-gathering. Maybe an ocean, maybe a galaxy, maybe proton decay. With the accessible resources fully captured, it has to decide how much of that budget to convert directly into paperclips, how much to risk on an expedition across the potential barrier, and how much to burn gathering and analyzing information to make the decision. How many in-hand birds will you trade for a chance of capturing two birds currently in Andromeda?