I think it may have been a one-two punch of §174 and the end of ZIRP.

Of note, the OBBB reinstated the ability to deduct R&D, so businesses are no longer required to capitalize and amortize R&D expenses (including software development).

https://warrenaverett.com/insights/one-big-beautiful-bill-se...

I was talking about zirp in another thread and got downvoted. But yes, companies were taking out low/zero interest loans and hiring people in hopes of making 1-2% on it, which worked for awhile. It doesn't work at 4-5%, though. We can't pin our hopes to zirp anyways. But a lot of sketchy activities around investing were accomplished because of zirp.