>>> chances are the CPU isn’t even manufactured anymore
>>> and that the price raise is due to that.

>> NXP claims T2080 availability until 2027, so I don't see this as the likely reason.

> Look at the PA6T for example.

The PA6T price significantly increased long after its official discontinuation. To my knowledge, it's not been revealed yet whether A-Eon/Varisys still purchased the PA6T from Apple or from a greedy chip broker at that later point in time.

> What other reasons for the price of an old (turning ancient)
> CPU to *double* is there?

It's no secret that Freescale/NXP want to phase out the Power-based QorIQ chips and have been discouraging designers of new hardware (without legacy compatibility requirements) from using the older Power-based QorIQ chips for years and have instead been recommending their newer ARM-based QorIQ chips. A significant price increase of the older chips is a valid method of increasing the appeal of using the newer chips, I think. That doesn't necessarily mean that the older chips are not being manufactured anymore. In my humble opinion, 2027 is too long in the future for this to be plausible as of now.