Arm grabs a slice of Raspberry Pi to sweeten relationship with IoT devs
- Reference: 1698992585
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/11/03/arm_raspberry_pi/
- Source link:
"With the rapid growth of edge and endpoint AI applications, platforms like those from Raspberry Pi, built on Arm, are critical to driving the adoption of high-performance IoT devices globally by enabling developers to innovate faster and more easily," Paul Williamson, SVP of Arm's Internet of Things business group, explained in a canned [1]statement .
While neither Arm nor Raspberry Pi disclosed the terms of the agreement, the two have a long standing relationship dating back to the board-maker's founding in 2008.
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Originally designed to promote computer science skills and education, the credit-card-sized Arm computers have become a go-to for many hobbyists and tinkerers thanks to their low price and generally strong performance and efficiency.
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Since 2012, the maker of the currently best-selling British computer has released a number of Raspberry Pi models in different form factors. Last month, it [5]launched the Raspberry Pi 5, which brought several notable improvements – including a much faster quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 processor running at 2.4GHz, better graphics and more robust I/O.
Over the past few years these devices have also become popular for use in industrial applications at the edge. As of 2020, more than [6]half of all Raspberry Pi units were being deployed in industrial and commercial settings. This no doubt factored into Arm's decision to invest.
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However, the number of Pis going to industrial and commercial buyers has also been somewhat controversial. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing semiconductor shortage, getting your hands on a Pi at anything close to MSRP became a tricky prospect – especially with the manufacturer [8]electing to prioritize its partners over hobbyists, educators, and tinkerers.
[9]Raspberry Pi 5 revealed, and it should satisfy your need for speed
[10]Raspberry Pi 5: Hot takes and cooler mistakes
[11]Microsoft starts offering advice in how to code for Arm
[12]Sorry Pat, but it's looking like Arm PCs are inevitable
Arm's investment in Raspberry Pi comes on the eve of RISC-V Summit, which is due to kick off next week in Santa Clara. The open RISC-V instruction set has spawned a variety of Raspberry Pi-style [13]dev boards and captured a considerable amount of interest over the past few years.
RISC-V has been particularly popular in embedded and low-end applications, like storage controllers. More recently, Qualcomm has been [14]talking up the RISC-V architecture amid a legal spat with Arm, and NASA has [15]opted for a RISC-V core design developed by SiFive for its next space flight computer.
While Arm executives have repeatedly [16]downplayed the threat of RISC-V to their business, the chip designer [17]warned investors in its pre-IPO filing that "if RISC-V-related technology continues to be developed and market support for RISC-V increases, our customers may choose to utilize this free, open source architecture instead of our products." ®
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[1] https://newsroom.arm.com/news/raspberry-pi-investment
[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=2ZUTS12yy8pzgCTrhtHQc2wAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] 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=44ZUTS12yy8pzgCTrhtHQc2wAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] 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=33ZUTS12yy8pzgCTrhtHQc2wAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/28/raspberry_pi_5_revealed/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/17/raspberry_pi_to_anoint_design/
[7] 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=44ZUTS12yy8pzgCTrhtHQc2wAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/production-and-supply-chain-update/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/28/raspberry_pi_5_revealed/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/17/life_with_pi_5/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/17/microsoft_arm_advisory_service/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/28/arm_pcs_inevitable/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/14/beaglev_riscv/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/15/qualcomm_talks_up_riscv_roasts/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/06/nasas_spaceflight_computer_risc_v/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/17/arm_riscv_datacenter_competiton/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/15/arm_post_ipo_strategy/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: No! No! No! No! No!
Why would Arm want to 'extinguish' the Raspberry Pi?
Re: No! No! No! No! No!
Extinguish doesnt necessarily mean "kill the host" it can also mean "control the host".
In this instance it means Raspberry Pi will be influenced to an extent on any future decisions that might involve other architecture.
Right now, thats not a huge problem...but down the line, should superior architectures become apparent, it could make Raspberry Pi less compelling.
If future ARM platforms dont keep pace with alternatives, then Raspberry Pi devices could become comparatively less interesting than competitor products.
Or it could go the other way and we end up with an NVIDIA situation. Where competition becomes so thin that it jacks the price up to the point where Raspberry Pi products are insane Ely expensive.
I think short term, ARM buying a stake in RPI is a net positive, but medium to long term remains to be seen.
Re: No! No! No! No! No!
In some ways this is what the whole article is about.
Arm obviously doesn't want to extinguish it, but they likely want to i.e ensure the Pi project doesn't explore RISC-V. Ultimately this is *already* starting to impose restrictions on the community that aren't in the communities (or the Pi project's) best interest.
Companies are creepy machines; you can obviously guarantee they don't act in the best interests of smaller companies or communities.
Re: No! No! No! No! No!
Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! and one NO!
ARM is 'merely' an architecture and licensor for its CPU designs and does not get involved with manufacture and production beyond consultancy.
My only 'No!' is that ARM's investment in Raspberry Pi is to persuade them not to switch to open-source RISC-V processors because this would be damaging headline news for ARM.
One of my 'Yes!'s is that ARM could offer its design to Raspberry Pi for a reduced fee or even free, keeping the board price down. Indeed, ARM could consider this discount / free license a marketing cost, as Raspberry Pi's very existence as a powerful computer that needs little electricity because it uses ARM is quite the marketing message.
If they overpaid...
Did it cost an Arm and a leg?
I'm surprised there wasn't already a relationship between ARM and the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
But with the increase in noise about RISC-V, I suspect ARM are just making sure RPi don't go getting ideas above their station.
No! No! No! No! No!
The Embrace has been in place since 2008.
Now we see the Extend phase.
It will be such a shame to see the Extinguish event happen to such a wonderful little product.
.
I suppose the only consolation is that it has been shown that there is a hunger for Pi out there, and someone else will come up with a similar recipe to feed the enthusiast eventually.