Raspberry Pi raises prices as AI demand inflates RAM costs
What's the story
Raspberry Pi, the popular maker of single-board computers, has announced a price hike on many single-board computers. The increase varies from $5 to $25 depending on the model and RAM size. The 16GB version of Compute Module 5 will now cost $20 more, starting at $140. The move comes as a response to the rising costs of memory components due to increased demand from the AI industry.
Market pressure
AI industry's impact on memory prices
Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton explained the price hike in a blog post, blaming it on "the current pressure on memory prices, driven by competition from the AI infrastructure roll-out." He stressed that while this situation is painful, it is ultimately temporary. Upton also expressed hope that Raspberry Pi would be able to reverse these price increases once the market stabilizes.
Product update
New Raspberry Pi 5 variant launched
Separately, Raspberry Pi has also unveiled a new 1GB RAM version of the Raspberry Pi 5. The model is priced at $45 and comes with a quad-core 2.4GHz Arm Cortex-A76 processor, dual-band Wi-Fi, and a PCI Express slot.