I fail to see how a $500 Intel NUC could possibly justify a team of software engineers to maintain, which means the person responsible for setting it up is not

I fail to see how a $500 Intel NUC could possibly justify a team of software engineers to maintain, which means the person responsible for setting it up is not a manager, and their boss isn't someone who manages a manager. The purpose of an employee is not to jack up the stock price, it's to make their boss look more important. Shareholders are like customers, it pays to have them think you're on their side, but your interests do not always align.