According to the semiaccurate article Nvidia might be taking a loss on the deal with Nintendo.
This might make some sense actually, if you think about it, if Nintendo's OS is like iOS, Nintendo will likely stick with one CPU/GPU vendor indefinitely to ensure that things don't get broken like how Apple has stuck with PowerVR since the original iPhone.
So while we might be having a desperate Nvidia now, it'll probably pay off in the long run. If the rumours are true and NX is an all-Nvidia hardware lineup that sells in enough volume then we might even have a situation where Nintendo hardware dictates the direction and investment that Nvidia puts into new SoC designs for the handheld, or a semi-custom Tegra for the NX console.
On the other hand, I am a bit wary. Nvidia has its own Android-based "platform", Shield. Would Nintendo really want to buy chips from a company that could end up being its own direct competitor, if NX handheld games could theoretically be easily ported to Nvidia's platform?