Quote from tradestrong:
Intel and AMD are not separated by just a "20 nanometer" difference. Up until 2004, AMD had a superior architecture. Intel had the CISC instruction set and AMD had a RISC architecture.
Intel with the Pentium IV had serious problems with how their frontside bus was a complete disaster in terms of memory latency. AMD had the on chip memory controller. Intel had real problems with power consumption.
AMD had the superior architecture and the superior processor and were even starting to get long-time Intel supporters like DELL to switch over to AMD chips. AMD had a massive technological advantage over Intel. If they had the cash and the ability to aggressively market their chips, they would have been able to send Intel falling. But they didn't.
And all this time, Intel was creating a whole new architecture. They were building a brand new platform. They then released the Core2Duo and the Centrino platform. This is basically a reusable mobile platform with phenomenal intelligent power management. Along with this, the new architecture gives Intel a large advantage in terms of architectural design. The new platform not only matches AMD in terms of a more intelligent instruction set and on chip controller, but it also provides hyper threading and large memory caches.
So, there is much more to a chip design that just "how many nanometers" a design is. AMD doesn't have the ability to fund its R&D anymore. They have no cash. They had their chance and they blew it. AMD *could* survive, but it won't surpass Intel in technological superiority again until it finds a way to eliminate its cash problem. Without this fix, AMD is not going to be a very successful company for many years to come.