About 40% of linux users in the Steam survey use a Steam Deck, so this is not surprising at all.

Is there anything that makes AMD CPU’s the preferred choice over Intel CPU’s, when running Linux? I was of the understanding that compatibility was quite smoothed out at this point at the CPU/motherboard level and that there wouldn’t be any particular preference in that respect.

I myself have had both Intel CPU’s back in the Sandy Bridge days and then AMD CPU’s since Zen - both worked equally well for Linux in my experience.