> The likelihood intel AI was going to catch up with efforts like AWS Trainium, let alone Nvidia

...and yet Nvidia is not gambling with the odds. Intel could have challenged Nvidia on performance-per-dollar or per watt, even if they failed to match performance in absolute terms (see AMD's Zen 1 vs Intel)

You misunderstand enterprise GPUs. Their cost of ownership is dominated by electricity - they're already optimized for price per watt.