Those with a server farm have maybe 5-10 years hardware advantage over the rest of us - and they probably have other advantages as well: better funding, like-minded colleagues, etc.

I somewhat agree with what you are saying here. Where we disagree slightly, in a mater of degree and not fundamental structure, is on the relative importance of the hardware vs those other advantages. I suspect the funding, like-minded colleagues and particularly the etc are more important factors than the hardware.