I know this game is supposed to be kinda scifi-ish (kinda like Firefly is supposed to be scifi-ish, but is also a Western), but I've never liked the idea of "enforced limited production" things. The other major example I know of is Mass Effect, where the "superguns" that Shepard gets ahold of have some kind of rights-management system in it that means you can't build yourself two more of them and jack up your squad's power immensely. I just cannot be convinced that there isn't some cartel or rogue agency out there (like the one in the second two games) that can pirate and crack that sucker open.
Same with this game. I've never been too friendly with the idea that the carriers in combat literally build fighters from the materials stage (Supplies) before cramming a pilot in and shoving them out the door. My headcanon was thus that the limited number of fighter hulls per engagement referred to how many fighters were "on deck," stored assembled but ready to "unfold and lock the wings," stick a pilot in, arm, and launch. Now we supposedly get these seriously-can't-hack-these-guys chips that we plug into something and again a fighter is plopped out in seconds and shoved out the door.
I know I'm just one person, but my immersion into the canon of the universe would fit so much better, especially for "retrofit" carriers that couldn't feasibly have a whole fighter manufacturing plant crammed into them, if the fighters were sold simply as crated ones instead of magic chips. They're sold in a shipping container all bundled up for "easy" sale and carriage in fleet supply ships, then when loaded on a carrier are assembled during the "downtime" of the fleet traveling around or in dock, then "unfolded" for launch. This also leaves open the plausibility for later developments that someone might open up those crates and do something (Upgrade? Sabotage? Booby trap? Tracking device?) to those fighters before their sale. It's much less super-techy whizbang scifi, but I think much more relatable to the "we're living on the scraps of what high-tech still exists after The Calamity" lore that this game has.