> Relatively modern, capable tech corporations that understand that their code is an asset.

I strongly disagree with this. The more code you have, the more resources you have to spend maintaining it. There is a very relevant example close by in the post: the bit about Google having a clang-based tool that can refqactor the entire codebase. Great! Problem is, an engineer had to spend their time writing that, and you had to pay that engineer money - all because you have an unmanageable amount of code.

The real tech asset is processes: the things you have figured out in order to manage such an ungodly amount of code. Your most senior engineers, specifically what's in their heads, are an asset too.