I left a PhD program to go into industry. I get to work on way more fascinating things in industry than I ever would have in academia. I also get to work on lots of different interesting things, rather than focusing entirely in one narrow field. Generally, my advice to PhD students considering working in industry is “if you’ve identified one specific problem that you want to devote years to, then academia may be for you. If you want to have a constant flow of challenging problems and don’t particularly care about sticking to one narrow field, industry may be a better fit for you.”

My experience is that the incentives in industry are aligned so that it’s nearly impossible to succeed without having broad interests that allow you to have impact on multiple projects. Incentives in academia are aligned so that it’s nearly impossible to succeed without being able to focus almost single-mindedly on one specific area and churn out the publications; there isn’t much time for exploration until you get tenure, at least.

Maybe I’ve just been lucky, though?

I also think that most industry jobs are not "exciting", and so people that desire stimulating intellectual work have better options inside academia, even if for just a limited time (if they do not go further after the PhD).