They still make chips for the Apple II  🤖

The 6502 processor, introduced in 1975 and used by the Apple II is still actively produced 50 years later. Well, technically the WDC 65C02 from 1982 which uses slightly improved CMOS technology.

But Why? All kinds of old industrial equipment, factories, and things like cable TV boxes rely on this old chip and while it’s easily emulated today in software on inexpensive microcontrollers, the simplicity and compatability of a true 6502 can’t be beat for such applications. You don’t want a bug on a computer controlling processing hazardous materials that has been working reliably for half a century now.

Nobody builds new stuff around 6502 except retro hobbyists as newer microcontrollers and processors are cheaper and superior in all ways but there is still a lot of old stuff out there that relies literally on reliable old 1970s technology.