There is a lot to criticize about TC, but if you think the Apple Silicon move is dull (not in terms of technology, but what experiences it opens), you are incredibly stupid and shortsighted.

TL;DR Cook kept an already mature Jobs era initiative alive

Apple's first chip, A4, was released in 2010 before Jobs was gone

Given how long it took then to get a single chip physically manufactured the business plan had been sorted out for years, likely not long after the switch to Intel

They were just waiting for manufacturers to hit the right metrics