> Are they implying these other companies lacked knowledge and expertise to put their databases on machines with NVMe storage?

Have you worked at any web dev companies? Of the ones I’ve been at, precisely one had any desire to run their own DBs, and deaf was more out of necessity due to poor schema design needing local NVMe just to stay afloat.

Yes, most web companies lack the experience to touch a server, because their staff are all cloud-native, and their CTOs have drank the Kool-Aid and are convinced that it’s dangerous and risky to manage a server.