The first time I had to little money for research, I did not know where to click and thought I were softlocked, I now know that I have to click in the background, but that is a little unintuitive.
A possible solution would be to automatically deselect the research you can't afford.
Maybe save the last design that was aborted because the window is closed, If I close the design window, it is mostly because I don't have the funds and either have to wait for money or get money from the bank, then I will create the same CPU.
Maybe also add some stats and maybe even descriptions to the research, that way it is easier for people who a new to the game to understand what that pieces of research will do, and it should allow players to plan better.
For example, show the stat of what the max possible clock for the dip is in a description.
It allows people to better plan their research and explains the point of researching this item for new players.
It would also be nice to see the stats of the competitor's products, while this is not really that important, considering the news are good, it would be nice to see the stats of their CPU's
Thank you for taking the time to read this!
I wish you great success!