The Linux kernel is unique in having thousands of contributors paid to work on it; Rust does well by any other standard and is still nowhere near that.

I would say here that the Linux kernel is truly unique in this particular aspect in that they have thousands of contributors doing it on work time. I actually think that the Rust project is doing pretty well at having people do it and get paid for it like by their employer, but it's nowhere near the to the same extent as as the Linux kernel.