Starting with SR 839175 (https://build.opensuse.org/request/show/839175)
several firmware files were removed and added to WHENCE, e.g. "linux-firmware:
nvidia: move firmware symlinks to WHENCE" - when using the kernel-firmware-*
(kernel-firmware-nvidia) packages, the symlinks mentioned in WHENCE are not
created at package install time, thus the fw is not found at a later time when
it is needed.

When using the legacy kernel-firmware package, the symlinks are created just
fine, so it seems the WHENCE file is not used with the split firmware files.