I think the article missed the actual reason why they aren't considered part of the COGS (cost of goods sold): taxes. First off, I'm not a CPA or tax lawyer.

I think the article missed the actual reason why they aren't considered part of the COGS (cost of goods sold): taxes. First off, I'm not a CPA or tax lawyer. You don't get tax incentives for having more input cost on each item produced. You can write off the costs against your sales, like how the company doesn't have to pay taxes on all their sales, but only their profit. But you do get massive tax benefits, and sometimes even tax credits, for doing "research and development." And many times, all of software development could be considered, well, development. This is why companies tech companies like Google and Amazon pay very little in taxes. They know how to use these tax systems, and will write off things as R&D all the time. https://www.alliantgroup.com/services/r-d-tax-credit-2/ https://www.alliantgroup.com/services/r-d-tax-credit-2/ https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/03/why-amazon-paid-no-federal-income-tax.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/03/why-amazon-paid-no-federal-i... "Amazon’s low tax bill mainly stemmed from the Republican tax cuts of 2017, carryforward losses from years when the company was not profitable, tax credits for massive investments in R&D and stock-based employee compensation."