But the same also applies to C++. A boatload of my compile time is spent on expanding, parsing the same header files again and again in different compilation units. This can be solved by precompiled headers, yeah. But then again a boatload of the compile time is spent on instantiating the same templates in different compilation units again and again and again.

It's just that the fact that the language is cursed from the beginning gives an illusion of "linear scaling".