Didn't they already removed it years ago? At least for Thunderbolt 3:https://www.pcmag.com/news/to-spread-thunderbolt-intel-will-...

Well, in the PC space, Thunderbolt is intentionally market segregated by motherboard vendors who basically only put it on top tier motherboards for both Intel and AMD.

But even for phones it isn't easy to implement as you have to basically throw PCI lanes at a thunderbolt controller or roll your own thunderbolt IP internal to the processor.

Otherwise, Intel removed all fees and shifted to a royalty free license with Thunderbolt 3 in 2017.

Intel doesn't charge licensing fees. You might have to pay a lab to certify your device as Thunderbolt 5 compliant, but that's a one time cost and nothing that Intel charges for.

They removed the license costs on Thunderbolt nearly 6 years ago...