I’m sure it was part of their calculus, providing a crucial part for this kind of hobbyist/introductory device can’t hurt business. Sort of like giving away free academic software.
As I understand, the bulk of single board computers are now being used by manuf.s for assembly line automation. That is the reason why they were so hard to source for hobbyists in the last 2 years. That said, when it started, I doubt Broadcom execs were thinking about manuf.s.
