> They can spin up and down Nope. Every moment that hardware is not ran is wasted money that could have been used to buy something else that's actually product

> They can spin up and down Nope. Every moment that hardware is not ran is wasted money that could have been used to buy something else that's actually productive. Secondary effects like depreciation make this phenomenom even stronger. You've only got a few years to exploit any given piece of hardware before it's obsoleted by newer, more efficient hardware. That's why any hardware investment with a high upfront cost operates as close to 24/7 as possible — nuclear power plants, factories. Continuous operation amortizes the costs as well as possible.