Many SOC designs require you to register as a company in order to gain access to the documentation. Presumably there's some vetting process. Further, many devices targeted for OpenWrt are EOL enterprise models where the components themselves are probably nearing EOL. The chip-maker has zero incentive to help anyone with an old design. So, how does the magic happen? Do documents get leaked? Do the core developers have a secret stash?
If it comes to SOC level development, you pretty much always need -at least- the GPL source from the vendor.
If it's 'just' a new device for an already supported target, you can get a long way by checking what the OEM firmware is doing (DTS, boot messages, etc.) and then filling out the blanks by 'intelligent guesswork'.
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And then we have the Chinese that have a habit of leaking these non-disclosure documents/technical data sheets to the internet in some form, even though the documents are actually watermarked on every page with confidential markings and the actual company name responsible for the leak.
But leaking more or less secret documents to social internet forums in different forms seems to be “the thing” nowadays.
But I would say ethernet chips have no money attached to them anymore. It seems to be the advanced wifi technology that have the money and secrets attached to them nowadays.