I'm saying that when you push a CPU line to its absolute limits to compete and your next node (process) can't create CPUs that clock as high1 as your outgoing CPUs you will have a regression in achievable performance.

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1: Which DOES happen frequently - AMD's 14nm parts clock lower than their 32nm parts.. Ivy Bridge clocked lower than Sandy Bridge, etc...

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Intel's 10nm process has proven to be a dud. It couldn't create high frequency processors - the challenge is made even worse by the fact that Intel pushes their 14nm CPUs almost to their limits. Compare to their Sandy Bridge CPUs when they released sub 4GHz CPUs that could hit 5GHz frequently enough.

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If AMD manages to release a 5.5GHz CPU (not likely, but it's just a hypothetical) with Zen 2, but 7nm+EUV suddenly can't release at 5.5Ghz, but just at 5.2GHz, then the 5~10% IPC improvement is eaten up by lost clock speeds.