I am actually thinking about designing in this chip for a low volume project. The only alternative for me would be programmable logic.
What specs do you need ?
The SiLabs EFM8LB1 can clock at 72MHz which may be enough for most SX apps ?
It has 4 Configurable Logic cells, which may offload some tasks.
I seem to remember (and I may be wrong about this) that I was watching the DIP stock, but then all of a sudden the product was just removed from the website before it went to zero.
That's to be expected, as exactly as you describe, as soon as it gets close to some threshold, the Last-Time-Buy orders kick in, and the stock goes very quickly.
The thing is with this kind of thing is that if they don't sell them then they are unlikely to sit on the shelf for years as maintaining stock like this only bleeds money and time. For most companies one of those obsolete parts suppliers comes along and makes a ridiculous offer and buys up the lot for a song, done, all gone, but you can still buy it off the new guy for x10+ times the price you would have paid. A part can disappear from stock normally if a manufacturer needs the lot or at least have a lead-time buffer so just because a supplier might have 50k in stock it doesn't mean you are guaranteed that it won't zero the next day. Besides I'd always look for or negotiate a volume buy price which makes it more likely to buy bigger volume without too much extra cost with the benefits of that buffer at lower cost.
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The SiLabs EFM8LB1 can clock at 72MHz which may be enough for most SX apps ?
It has 4 Configurable Logic cells, which may offload some tasks.
That's to be expected, as exactly as you describe, as soon as it gets close to some threshold, the Last-Time-Buy orders kick in, and the stock goes very quickly.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mvtLk4i6TmY