Yep, it's a trap, 99%. Intel will be happy to waste lots of money (and investments) to kill wanna-be server CPUs manufacturer. Why earn a bit when you can future proof your possition ?

And morphing into fab ? Numbers renaming is not the same as finally not failing to deliver lower nodes.

Broadcom tried 3x in 2018. If Intel did approach Qualcomm they'd likely have to make the largest M&A bid ever.