It's weird to me how it often seems like the US and China are the only countries capable of mega-scale tech infrastructure like this (and even then, only in some industries). Can you imagine Wal-mart's website going down for multiple months?
I think a lot of companies (especially in Europe) have not internalized that, yes, you actually do need to expend apparently exorbitant amounts of money on highly-paid engineers if you want your tech to actually be good. Many countries, including the UK, are simply not wealthy enough to do it at scale. They produce plenty of engineers, but most of the ones capable of holding complicated stuff together probably end up working for US companies that can pay them market rates.
I think a lot of companies (especially in Europe) have not internalized that, yes, you actually do need to expend apparently exorbitant amounts of money on highly-paid engineers if you want your tech to actually be good. Many countries, including the UK, are simply not wealthy enough to do it at scale. They produce plenty of engineers, but most of the ones capable of holding complicated stuff together probably end up working for US companies that can pay them market rates.