Raspberry Pi has reported impressive revenue and profit growth, but its hobbyist origins risk taking a backseat amid soaring semiconductor shipments.
The firm, famous for its eponymous diminutive computers, recorded [PDF] revenues of $323.5 million in FY 2025, an increase of 25 percent on 2024. Gross profit was $77.8 million, up 23 percent, and the group reported a 73 percent increase in earnings per share to 11.22 cents.
Growth is still there, but DRAM inflation ... driven up by overwhelming demand from AI ... and cloudy second-half visibility remain the key things investors will worry about
The group noted strengthening demand throughout the year, notably from the US and China. Significantly, semiconductor device volumes exceeded those of boards and modules, totaling 8.4 million units.
The latter statistic might cause concern among the hobbyist community, who would otherwise be delighted at the company's success. While the $66.3 million gross profit from the company's SBC and compute modules was far in excess of the $0.6 million from "Microcontrollers, publishing and others," the company has an "ambition to build Raspberry Pi into a two‑franchise business, with both electronic products and semiconductors making significant contributions to volumes, revenues, and profitability."
Alex Pugh, an analyst at Freetrade, commented: "What's interesting is the business is starting to look broader and more industrial. Semiconductor shipments overtaking boards and modules for the first time is a meaningful milestone. Raspberry Pis are moving out of garages and workshops into elevators, moving walkways, industrial control and automation, digital signage, smart buildings, and energy management.
"The firm is graduating from maker culture and hobbyist fan fave to something more mature: a business with growing semiconductor scale, stronger OEM and Authorised Reseller demand, and a wider commercial footprint."
The company noted increases in unit sales across almost all product variants. It said that development on the Raspberry Pi 6 was "ongoing" following the release of the Raspberry Pi 500+ all-in-one PC in 2025. It did not indicate when the device might reach customers, saying only there would be "significant improvements in performance, efficiency, and usability, and an emphasis on continuity in the software stack." So a bit faster, and you probably won't have to recompile everything to use it.
There was no mention of the anticipated replacement for the Pi Zero 2, which first debuted in 2021.
Looking ahead, the company said it had sufficient memory inventory to carry it through much of 2026, although uncertainty around pricing has clouded long-term forecasts. CEO and founder Eben Upton said: "While the DRAM environment limits second-half visibility, we have the inventory position, supplier relationships and pricing flexibility to navigate it effectively.
"We remain confident in our ability to execute and view the current market environment primarily as an opportunity rather than a threat."
Pugh added: "Growth is still there, but DRAM inflation – Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chips, driven up by overwhelming demand from AI – and cloudy second-half visibility remain the key things investors will worry about. The firm says it has managed DRAM pressure through supplier diversification, pricing adjustments and substantial inventory buffers.
"More revenue is good. But if profit only tracks in line, the obvious question is how much of that extra growth gets absorbed by memory costs or pricing pressure."
Raspberry Pi's results will please shareholders, and its product pipeline appears solid. However, uncertainty in the long-term DRAM market is likely to concern investors, while enthusiasts and hobbyists – the community on which the company was built – may take note of rising microcontroller shipments and prices, and consider what that could mean for its future. ®
Source: The register