No. Intel isn't dead. They may be behind (for now) but they're definitely catching up and have in a way on the desktop.
It's not certain that Intel will die and AMD will for sure win. Competition is great.
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed an increase in arguing over the meaning of words on HN lately?
Depends on what you mean by increase, arguing, and words.
Mercari replaced Intel with AMD. One x86 out, another in. Usage is correct if figurative.
Article does not claim Intel is dead. States that they are "catching up". But for their nodes, Intel out ("dead"), AMD in.
It's reasonable.
But this subthread (as started by amusingimpala75), and your direct parent's question was about whether the idiomatic usage of "(old) X is dead, long live (new) X" was correct (given that the author believes AMD taking over Intel is the factual case). That is, not about whether the factual statement is correct or not, just whether it's expressed well idiomatically.