So was the Intel CPU defect really a big deal?

It's not patched yet.

Other really bad AMD exploits have been found there is no hysteria for those

Those are not in the same league as far a severity is concerned. The AMD vulnerabilities rely on admin/root access to the machine and a modified bios/firmare being flashed.

With that being said, the Intel related Spectre/Meltdown vulns are not too big of a problem to the average person checking their email or playing games. They are really dangerous to cloud/vm systems with shared resources though.

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Those are not in the same league as far a severity is concerned. The AMD vulnerabilities rely on admin/root access to the machine and a modified bios/firmare being flashed.

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The ones last week? That was a brazen and unsuccessful short seller attack on the stock. For real. People need to go to jail for it.

They're real, but they're extremely overblown and were published in an extremely shady way. The previously unknown Israeli company "CTS Labs" gave AMD 1 day notice rather than the customary 90 days or more and didn't seek CERT advisories, which are normally ready to go with the public reveal. Simultaneouly with the CTS reveal, short sellers by the name of "Viceroy Research" published a 35 page report declaring that AMD is a zero and will have no choice but to seek Chapter 11 protection. They've pulled this kind of stunt in other countries; it's their business model. Thing is, it was pretty much recognized for what it was within hours, as $AMD didn't drop that much in the first place and has gained all but a percent or two back. It was all a blatant attempt at stock manipulation, with security "researchers" working hand-in-hand with short sellers.