Sometimes it's convenient to have a product finished but not released, so you can release it at a later date.
My vision is:
There'd be a "Default release behaviour" selector in the ingame "Options" menu, with the options "automatic" and "manual"
There'd also be a "Override release behaviour" selector in the "CPU Design" menu, which is set to the value of "Default release behaviour" by default, but the player can change it so that they can choose which products they want to release later.
If release behaviour is manual, a player who wants to release a completed product would go to a new "Unreleased" tab of the "Products" menu and click the "Release" button on the product tile.
If release behaviour is automatic, then the product will release automatically once it's finished (this is the current behaviour of the game).