Here's the bit everyone seems to overlook and/ or forget, pertaining to AMD. AMD does not compete. At least not for the enthusiast market. Their main objective is to offer a cost effective solution. Nvidia just makes their job harder by introducing something like the GTX 1060 which happens to rival, if not supersede, most of AMDs flagship cards(RX480/ 580) and at a lower price point.
Notice, Radeon products have not won a generation based on a shear power and performance level since the 1000XT and 2000XT series of cards, and going back before that. This is because Radeon is no longer ATI, but AMD and AMD has a completely different marketing method. ATI was of a competitive enthusiast card back in the day, but with 3DFX it was a tough battle. Nvidia, not terribly popular at the time, acquired 3DFX and their tech and ascended to glory. Still, ATI competed.
As far as CPU goes AMD has Never won on a power/ performance level, but has won CPU generations based on a price-to-performance level and only just recently done so once again with its Ryzen line of CPUs, since the days of the Phenom. Thread Ripper, like the Phenom IIs, doesn't quite rival or beat out Intel's upper end of CPUs(in this case the i9s), but gets us close at a better cost. This is why AMD is allowed to remain. They are not a threat to either Intel or Nvidia, but a pain in the a$$ to either company's midrange market, which is the majority. Once Thread Ripper is over and done with people will be trying to buy them all up and run them for the next 8 years, just like the Phenom X6 1100T, after people will pour over to the next more powerful of the Ryzen CPUs until those are gone, and everyone will speak of the Ryzen days, just as people do the Phenom days. AMD will then fade into unpopularity and will then again produce another memorable moment in another near decade. They've done this ever since they've been around. AMD Athlon - Thunderbird, a popular CPU at its time for cost-to -performance, as well as their unlocked nature(circa 2000), AMD wouldn't repeat this popularity again until the Phenoms roughly 8 years later...hmmm
The AMD's GPU line now echos their CPU market. AMD produces a kick-a$$ piece of silicon that nearly rivals what Intel and Nvidia are doing in their respective markets, but at a lower price point.
