Sorry for the late reply

It could possibly be a Universal Wasteland Expansion edit to the research/manufacturing, as that mod does change quite a few things to make it "flow" slightly different compared to Vanilla Kenshi. Really, it's kind of hard to remember every change UWE makes, as it's quite comprehensive in changing nearly everything about Kenshi lol

There's not a lot of research or manufacturing specific mods on this list, mostly to help avoid overly confusing changes (there's already like 100s of different things to research across all tiers)

As for tweaking the settings, you could possibly create a new .mod file relatively easily to change the research/manufacturing requirements, etc. to fit how you'd want. It's not really that difficult.

If you need help creating new mods for these kinds of tweaks, you can visit the Kenshi Community Discord[discord.com], where quite a lot of modders hang out and can help. For this type of mod specifically, you'd only really have to edit like 1-2 things (and do an Import Game) to change it how you'd want.

Alternatively, you can find CPUs over at the Tech Hunters (and Black Desert City) for sale, and there's quite a lot of these spread around the map in various locations, if you'd want to look for them.

Note: If you do an Import Game, World Loot will regenerate (ie. CPUs, AI cores, etc).