Raspberry Pi supply chain loosens just in time for the holiday season
(2022/12/12)
- Reference: 1670862610
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/12/12/100k_raspberry_pis/
- Source link:
Raspberry Pi enthusiasts, rejoice: around 100,000 RPi Zero W, 3A+, and 2GB/4GB RPi 4s are being distributed to resellers for holiday season consumer sales.
Commercial and industrial customers, on the other hand, are being warned that substantial backlogs remain, and likely will through 2023.
"Happy Christmas," Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton said in a [1]blog post announcing the trove of Pi devices, which are being released "as a thank-you to our army of very patient enthusiast customers in the run-up to the holiday season."
[2]
The mini-computer maker's advice from earlier in the year still applies: only buy from authorized resellers to prevent shortages, and use [3]rpilocator to get a near real-time look at where devices are in stock.
[4]
[5]
It's also worth considering whether an RPi Pico or Pico W would be a good fit for your project, Upton said, because stock is plentiful.
The Pi-demic is abating
Upton said he's confident supplies will recover to pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter of 2023, and by the second half of the year will be "unlimited."
Still, the RPi company "will continue to actively manage our commercial and industrial customers through 2023," Upton said. He told us that will entail speaking to OEMs and determining the minimum demand they need to stay in production.
Companies would "receive the units they need," Upton said, while noting steps were being taken to prevent "inventory building behavior which would otherwise prolong the shortage."
[6]Raspberry Pi hires former spy gadget-maker who baked devices into surveillance ops
[7]Asus packs 12-core Intel i7 into a Raspberry Pi-sized board
[8]Raspberry Pi 4 takes a trip to Vulkan, sharpens 3D vision
[9]The Raspberry Pi Pico goes wireless with the $6 W
Part of the reason for the continued commercial shortage is likely stemming from a drive to increase single-unit sales, which Upton said would be a priority in 2023. "The goal is to keep going through these last few months of shortage, and to turn up the supply to individual customers as soon as possible," Upton told The Register in an email.
By the end of the third quarter 2023, Upton said the company's entire supply channel (commercial and consumer alike) will have recovered to its equilibrium stock level, beginning with Zero and Zero W, followed by RPi 3A+ and finally RPi 4.
[10]
Upton told us that means backlogs from RPi to resellers will be caught up, and neither commercial volume orders or individual purchases will be limited.
Unfortunately, the pandemic and its supply chain disruptions will leave a mark on the Raspberry Pi world in the form of slightly higher prices, Upton said.
"We've generally absorbed these cost increases ourselves, holding the prices of our products constant," Upton said, but the company simply can't do so on Pi Zero units anymore.
[11]
Everything that goes into an RPi, regardless of size, has increased, Upton said, and at new manufacturing price points the Pi Zero is "no longer commercially viable," causing the company to double the cost of the original Pi Zero, from $5 to $10 (£4.07 to £8.15), and the Pi Zero W will get an additional 50 percent tacked onto its price, bringing it from $10 to $15 (£12.22).
However, once Zeros reach volume availability next year, purchase restrictions will be lifted, Upton said. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/supply-chain-update-its-good-news/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y5deMs776Mq8H-xAkrMJsQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://rpilocator.com/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y5deMs776Mq8H-xAkrMJsQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y5deMs776Mq8H-xAkrMJsQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/09/rpi_maker_in_residence_police/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/08/asus_i7_sbc/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/03/pi_4_vulkan/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/30/pi_pico_w/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y5deMs776Mq8H-xAkrMJsQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y5deMs776Mq8H-xAkrMJsQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Commercial and industrial customers, on the other hand, are being warned that substantial backlogs remain, and likely will through 2023.
"Happy Christmas," Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton said in a [1]blog post announcing the trove of Pi devices, which are being released "as a thank-you to our army of very patient enthusiast customers in the run-up to the holiday season."
[2]
The mini-computer maker's advice from earlier in the year still applies: only buy from authorized resellers to prevent shortages, and use [3]rpilocator to get a near real-time look at where devices are in stock.
[4]
[5]
It's also worth considering whether an RPi Pico or Pico W would be a good fit for your project, Upton said, because stock is plentiful.
The Pi-demic is abating
Upton said he's confident supplies will recover to pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter of 2023, and by the second half of the year will be "unlimited."
Still, the RPi company "will continue to actively manage our commercial and industrial customers through 2023," Upton said. He told us that will entail speaking to OEMs and determining the minimum demand they need to stay in production.
Companies would "receive the units they need," Upton said, while noting steps were being taken to prevent "inventory building behavior which would otherwise prolong the shortage."
[6]Raspberry Pi hires former spy gadget-maker who baked devices into surveillance ops
[7]Asus packs 12-core Intel i7 into a Raspberry Pi-sized board
[8]Raspberry Pi 4 takes a trip to Vulkan, sharpens 3D vision
[9]The Raspberry Pi Pico goes wireless with the $6 W
Part of the reason for the continued commercial shortage is likely stemming from a drive to increase single-unit sales, which Upton said would be a priority in 2023. "The goal is to keep going through these last few months of shortage, and to turn up the supply to individual customers as soon as possible," Upton told The Register in an email.
By the end of the third quarter 2023, Upton said the company's entire supply channel (commercial and consumer alike) will have recovered to its equilibrium stock level, beginning with Zero and Zero W, followed by RPi 3A+ and finally RPi 4.
[10]
Upton told us that means backlogs from RPi to resellers will be caught up, and neither commercial volume orders or individual purchases will be limited.
Unfortunately, the pandemic and its supply chain disruptions will leave a mark on the Raspberry Pi world in the form of slightly higher prices, Upton said.
"We've generally absorbed these cost increases ourselves, holding the prices of our products constant," Upton said, but the company simply can't do so on Pi Zero units anymore.
[11]
Everything that goes into an RPi, regardless of size, has increased, Upton said, and at new manufacturing price points the Pi Zero is "no longer commercially viable," causing the company to double the cost of the original Pi Zero, from $5 to $10 (£4.07 to £8.15), and the Pi Zero W will get an additional 50 percent tacked onto its price, bringing it from $10 to $15 (£12.22).
However, once Zeros reach volume availability next year, purchase restrictions will be lifted, Upton said. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/supply-chain-update-its-good-news/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y5deMs776Mq8H-xAkrMJsQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://rpilocator.com/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y5deMs776Mq8H-xAkrMJsQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y5deMs776Mq8H-xAkrMJsQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/09/rpi_maker_in_residence_police/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/08/asus_i7_sbc/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/03/pi_4_vulkan/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/30/pi_pico_w/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y5deMs776Mq8H-xAkrMJsQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y5deMs776Mq8H-xAkrMJsQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Whales
Charlie Clark
The risk of going outside the channel is that you don't get the real product.
And the 8 GB model I've been waiting for?
iron
I've been waiting over 8 months for them to get 8 GB models in stock, sounds like it will be another year before I'll not bother buying one because I'll have come up with another solution for my needs.
Meanwhile they have been delivered to big customers. So much for the Foundation's goals for education and research.
Whales
The mini-computer maker's advice from earlier in the year still applies: only buy from authorized resellers to prevent shortages
That's a bit patronising and insensitive. If someone needs PI for their business, they are not going to wait for when it mysteriously shows up at an authorised reseller.
Contrary to people looking down from their ivory towers, people actually have work to do, rather than spending 24h looking at rpilocator.
RPi company "will continue to actively manage our commercial and industrial customers through 2023,"
It's funny how big corporations could easily afford to spin up their own RPi equivalent, but if they buy RPi, they kill two birds with one stone - they prevent their potential competition from growing, because small business can't access RPi and at the same time they save money on R&D.
Does this align with the spirit of RPi?
I think they should ban big industrial customers from purchasing the product. If there is such a big shortage on the market, that shouldn't reduce profit, so why not?