Theoretically, 18A is great and should be competitive with the N2 processes from TSMC which are ramping up next year. I would love to see it succeed. The worry is that Intel will get stuck in another 10nm/Intel 7 quagmire and we'll be talking about 15A or some other process in 2 years that will finally be the process Intel needs to take the lead after the 18A failure.
Pat's firing certainly doesn't inspire confidence for an external observer.