We have sometimes discussed the possibility of the Raspberry Pi Foundation using SoCs with RISC-V-based processors instead of the current Arm ones designed by Broadcom. Although this idea seems interesting from several points of view, the truth is that it is not going to happen, at least in a few years. And this is because Arm has announced an agreement to make a strategic investmenta in this foundation for the design and manufacture of SBCs. Therefore, the Pi will remain linked to Arm.
On Arm's part they manage to keep this popular SBC going, which nourishes its ecosystem with more interest for developing operating systems and software for this architecture. And, on the other hand, the Rasbperry Pi Foundation also achieves very important support with this participation as a sponsor.
La Raspberry Pi 5 has arrived with interesting news, and thanks to this SBC, new projects can be carried out. IoT and artificial intelligence. Something Arm is also focused on with Cortex CPU and MCU cores for these markets. By strengthening this collaboration, many makers and developers will be interested in working on the Arm platform. And, on the other hand, it dissipates any temptation for the Pi to adopt chips based on its rival RISC-V (remember that the Raspberry Pi Foundation is also a member of RISC-V).
From Arm, Paul Williamson, Senior VP and General Manager of Arm's IoT Business Line, said: the reason behind this investment:
Arm and Raspberry Pi share a vision of making computing accessible to everyone by removing barriers to innovation so anyone, anywhere can learn, experiment, and create new IoT solutions. With the rapid growth of AI applications at the edge and in end devices, platforms like the Arm-based Raspberry Pi are critical to driving the adoption of high-performance IoT devices globally by enabling developers innovate faster and easier. This strategic investment is further evidence of our continued commitment to the developer community and our partnership with Raspberry Pi.
Eben Upton, founder and CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, has also expressed his gratitude:
Arm technology has always been central to the platforms we create, and this investment is an important milestone in our long partnership. Using Arm technology as the foundation of our current and future products gives us access to the compute performance, power efficiency, and extensive software ecosystem we need as we continue to remove barriers to entry for everyone, from students and enthusiasts to professional developers. that implement large-scale commercial IoT systems.
Despite announcing this agreement publicly, no details were provided on the amount invested nor additional details about the agreement…