"Intels 10nm is smaller than others 7nm.. so intels 7 is smaller than others 5nm... You can not compare the marketing numbers... They are just that marketing, without any real world relation. But yep. at least at this moment Intel is in situation to catch up, or at least it will be in the summer."
On paper....or at best in the lab. But, if you cant actually manufacture product on it....is it really smaller?
Lets say they stick to their new timeline and have product for holiday 2019(and that likely means mobile not desktop....and well assume it means in volume this time). Did they meet that schedule with the same paper process they have been showing off for the last 3 years....or has it been gutted to make it manufacturable? Is it still smaller?
I suspect the 10nm they are pushing forward with now is not the same 10nm they have been showing off for the last few years. Its likely been altered, the question is how much has it been altered, is it still a better process on paper or not. This is the path i would take as CEO, id tell them to gut anything that is holding it back and get it out the door ASAP(well i would have told them that back at the end of 2017). There are a few things they can seemingly remove, mainly the cobalt stuff, that would lose some density, but should still result in a quite good process.
Even if their 10nm has not changed, and is still as dense as it was on paper, it will still be ~1.3 years behind. TSMC for instance has been in volume on 7nm for 6 months now, and is at about the same point or slightly behind on their second gen 7nm+ vs intels 10nm(if you believe intel's latest roadmap, which keeps getting pushed back). I cant recall if intels 10nm on paper was better then TSMC's 7nm+ on paper....i don't think it was. You could have intel come out with their 10nm finally at end of 2019, only for TSMC to come out with 7nm+ in early 2020, so intel might have 4 months of being a little faster, before they are much slower again, for another 1-2 years.
There is no sugar coating it at this point. Intel went from a 2(or even a bit more) year lead on process to being about 0.75 years behind(if they meet their current 10nm schedule). Intel's market dominance over the last decade was largely attributable to their process dominance.
Having to compete while behind on process will not be fun for them.