Do you really think that Apple couldn’t port Linux to an M1 chip without outside help? If Apple wanted a server product, they wouldn’t need to rely on outside volunteers and they would be more actively helping. Apple used to make servers, and hardware wise, they were great. Software wise, it was more of a mixed bag.

If Apple wanted to help push a server or cloud product, do you think AWS would be racking retail Mac Minis?

This has informal geek cred motivation written all over it. More of a good-will measure than anything else. If this was an explicit market/new product motivation, any assistance would look very different and be more formal.