Please don't use statements like this as a justification for infinite price increases. AMD already jacked prices up on Vermeer by +$50 at every price point vs. Matisse. And that's just MSRP. People have been paying gouge prices above that for about six months, which mercifully has come to an end.
Yes, Vermeer is excellent. No, Intel offers no real competition. The opportunity is there for AMD to look at the gouge prices people were willing to pay for Vermeer and test the waters with Raphael. As someone who likes to actually be able to buy AMD products and wants other people on this forum to be able to buy AMD products, I do not welcome the thought of AMD using their current position to squeeze customers any further. Their volume alone has driven significant improvements in revenue. There's little need for them to continue pushing higher price points, even though we all know they can probably get away with it.
AMD had the "fastest" gaming CPU's at launch,
a halo product stack, how was the price increase the end of the world? Those were X products, not regular 65W parts.
Intel has the 11900K at $549 right now, that is their halo product. Whether it is worth that does not matter, it is the halo CPU for them right now.
And now the 5800X is down to $421.05 shipped and sold by Amazon. So yes, AMD knew the 5800X was over priced at $450.
They are still selling Zen2 desktop as the more budget option and it is still a very good CPU, and, more Zen3 is coming. It is now clear they had huge OEM obligations to fill for APU and mobile, which, is very smart in the grand scheme of things.
But, Intel is still there for a budget build, you are not forced to buy AMD.