The article hints at it, but my guess would be this investment is intended towards Intel foundry and getting it to a place where NVIDIA can eventually rely on them over TSMC — and the ownership largely to give them upside if/when Intel stock goes up on news of an NVIDIA contract etc. It isn’t that uncommon of an arrangement for enterprise deals of such a potential magnitude. Long-term, however, and without NVIDIA making the call that could definitely have the effect of leading to Intel divesting from directly competing in as many markets, ie Arc.

For context, I highly recommend the old Stratechery articles on the history of Intel foundry.

My first thought was also that this relates to Intel's foundry business. Even if only to be able to use it in price negotiations with TSMC (it's hard to threaten to go elsewhere when there is no elsewhere left).

Which is relatively funny since the new CEO has made it clear he wants to divest on the foundry side ...