I believe that is a misconception by the community, AMD isn't "suffering" from from a clock speed defecit, they are suffering from a lack of efficient software. They cram so much hardware into their chips that a great portion sits idle, consuming power...
Just look at their GPU history since hd 7xxx, did the hardware magically 're-fab' itself for more performance? No. It just took the industry that long to make use of what they were given, the 7950 I have was the best PC purchase I ever made! $330 and it keeps getting better, although it is loooooooooong in the tooth now
I doubt GloFo was the sole reason, they went after the best part of the pie. With limited resources, they have to be extremely efficient at maximizing ROI.
Considering their competition, it's a miracle they're still producing new tech and trying to spark/innovate software. All these people talking on forums about how/what AMD could/should do are a joke! They wouldn't last 5min in that hot seat.
Intel/nVidia are happy to milk the industry with status quo.
Unfortunatley it was a perfect storm, anti compete tactics from BOTH Intel & nVidia coupled with poor management.
HBM1 is/was not a flop, neither is/was Mantle. How's nVidia doing with DX12 & Async shaders?