I feel like this might be a question for @lauriewired Suppose I am running my own local server. I might not want microcode updates that slow down my CPU. The mitigation is a non-issue here. And suppose one CPU is just perfect for my specific case. Market for non-updated CPUs??

microcode get's hot-loaded every boot actually (for x86 at least), it's not persistent to the CPU itself it's the BIOS that loads the patch, and then often the OS on top of that so raw cpu -> bios (patch) -> os (patch again) really, if you want "old" microcode, that means an old BIOS + mitigations=off in the kernel, not an "old" CPU per se. (I think there might be some anti-rollback protections/fuses in some circumstances, but those are still rare-ish)

HUAWEI has presented the Tau (τ) Scaling Law, a new principle for guiding the future development of the semiconductor industry. By 2031, HUAWEI's high-end chips based on this law are expected to feature a transistor density that is equivalent to 14 Å (1.4 nm) processes.

@ProgramMax @lauriewired I have done exactly this, on an old laptop that I use exclusively for gaming. You can disable Intel's microcode patch on Ubuntu, easily.