>>> At least one MorphOS developer has stated that they will not
>>> abandon PPC as it's the CPU he/they most like to work with.

>> Has this statement been made in public?

> no, no statement has been made in public

How do you know?

> repeating anything said in private betrays a confidence.

Yes, that's why I asked for a public statement.

> I do believe this statement is accurate.

Yes, there's no reason to believe said MorphOS team member would lie about his own preference.

>> Raptor's Talos [...] has grown too expensive over the months.

> Power8 systems are slightly higher priced than the X1000 or X5000

I specifically mentioned the Talos because it's an ATX desktop/workstation type of computer (as opposed to server blade or similar) and because its design is licensable. Unfortunately, it's become way more expensive than X1000/X5000 (see link). The Talos board is now almost 3 times the announced X5000/20 system price and slightly more than 2½ times the last Nemo board price.
The only other suitable POWER8 system would be the Tyan Palmetto system, which is still 1½ times the announced X5000/20 system price and almost 1½ times the last Nemo board price.