>intel's 18A nodes are significantly ahead of what TSMC is offering

A nice comparison table linked below. The best comparison imho is transistor density which is 313MTr/mm2 for TSMC's latest in-production process vs 238 for intel (higher is better).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_nm_process

Also make sure to read the drama around https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_Lake_(microprocessor). Intel literally gave up making their own CPU on their own 20A process and instead utilised TSMCs fab.