Not dead at all, its now a (conceptual) rocket ship
No ISA/architecture licensing fees, no restrictions on what you can do with it - you can build an open source core or you could sell your design to others. ARM/x86 doest have this, its all locked up behind lawyers.
Figure out how to argue for more headcount, by expanding the scope of the team or by asking reports to narrow the breadth of their work to create headcount gaps.