The term "tech debt" means deliberate choices to compromise the system in a controlled way, to achieve a purpose. E.g. speed to market.
That's true, which is why things can become debt if you fail to maintain them, upgrade them, change them when the customer's requirements change etc. By choosing not to maintain code and do other things instead you're allowing parts of the system to decay. That is a source of tech debt (arguably the most common IMO).
The term "tech debt" means deliberate choices to compromise the system in a controlled way, to achieve a purpose. E.g. speed to market.
If it's not that, then it's not tech debt.