I found someone selling them on AliExpress, though at a high price point: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000990317952.html

If you don't mind a different style (clam shell), you can get them for significantly less: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33025755888.html

I suspect both AliExpress listings are an order of magnitude more expensive than they can be purchased on Taobao, but then you have to A) find it on Taobao, and B) use a shipping agent in China to export it.

Found a US-based seller who has them for $3/each (min quantity 10): http://siliconkit.com/ocart/index.php?route=product/product&...

Ah, the model number is listed on the flashrom wiki: https://www.flashrom.org/Technology#SO8.2FSOIC8:_Small-Outli...

Edit: Here's the Taobao link: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=576521466919

Thank you, I've been drooling over them on Dediprog for a while: https://www.dediprog.com/category/smt-sockets but their MOQ is slightly offputting; I'd like just a few of each style to have on-hand.

It's a "Wieson IC socket" - I originally got them here on Taobao for $1.50:

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=529625834683

and looks like others have pointed out various resellers.

Looks like this is not the drop in solution that the article used. Apparently the mentioned white small drop-in socket is from TaoBao but I couldnt find it there, neither on ebay...