I wouldn't say that invalidates their achievements though. It's not like they took a 20+ year old architecture, built it on 14nm to bump up clock speed and were

I wouldn't say that invalidates their achievements though. It's not like they took a 20+ year old architecture, built it on 14nm to bump up clock speed and were done. Improving something existing still requires you to thoroughly understand the technology. There wouldn't really have been a point in starting completely from scratch (why not even reinvent electricity while you're at it), other than some additional street cred.