LOL the 1b$ for CPU RD, isnt going to go over well for investers, who would run fast from the 5b$+ just to ramp up to get a product out to compete with intell and amd in 5 years.NOT a chance. Now they could go after the smaller stuff. But then is it really a good investment? Does it add to there core? Do they want to run lean during ramp up? MAybe they have a chipset issue and loose a year to ati and intell then what about that 1b$ in the bank? If anything i think they would work with sony and its fabs.1B in the bank: check.
Fab: does VIA has one for C7 production (a much more complex x86 chip, actually) ? I don't think so... I fact, they are made at TSMC, just like most GPU's.
If VIA, a much smaller company, can design CPU's, why couldn't NV ?
Freescale does PowerPC-based products for embedded aplications for years (routers and other network equipment, cars, cell-phones, etc).
I can't see why they wouldn't be willing to license a design to Nvidia, perhaps even collaborating further down the road.