Just take a look at YC salaries in India, Czechia, or China (the level of talent that FAANG in those countries would hire at).
Base salary plus bonus is at most 50% less than in the US, so factoring taxes and legal fees you save at best 40%, which isn't significant in an industry with 80-90% profit margins.
It's literally about talent at the end of the day - it's just easier to scale out entirely new teams to speed up delivering multiple features at once.
If you pay peanuts, then software is just a cost center for you (and for most industries, it is)
That's the thing - employers aren't paying peanuts abroad anymore either.
Just take a look at YC salaries in India, Czechia, or China (the level of talent that FAANG in those countries would hire at).
Base salary plus bonus is at most 50% less than in the US, so factoring taxes and legal fees you save at best 40%, which isn't significant in an industry with 80-90% profit margins.
It's literally about talent at the end of the day - it's just easier to scale out entirely new teams to speed up delivering multiple features at once.
If you pay peanuts, then software is just a cost center for you (and for most industries, it is)