Raspberry Pi raises profit forecast as AI demand drives sales but pushes DRAM costs higher

Raspberry Pi's profits are up. So is its DRAM bill

Forecasts earnings well ahead of expectations, even as it taps credit facilities to lock in memory supply The AI gold rush is proving good for Raspberry Pi's bottom line, but it's also forcing the low-cost computer maker to borrow money to keep enough memory chips in stock. In a trading update published on Friday, Raspberry Pi said it expects full-year earnings to come in significantly ahead of market expectations after a stronger-than-expected first half driven by healthy demand, higher average selling prices, and the benefit of lower-cost memory inventory purchased earlier. Raspberry Pi expects first-half profits of at least $38 million from shipments of more than 4 million units, putting it close to the roughly $42 million analysts had forecast for the entire year. Investors piled in after the update, pushing Raspberry Pi shares up nearly 20 percent and more than tripling the Cambridge-based firm's value since January. The most interesting detail, however, was tucked away beneath the headline numbers. Raspberry Pi warned that pricing and availability of DRAM and non-volatile memory remain challenging, a familiar complaint across the industry as AI infrastructure builders continue vacuuming up components. To ensure it meets production targets, the company said it intends to make strategic purchases of memory inventory and will "appropriately utilize" its debt facilities throughout the year. Not so long ago, Raspberry Pi's biggest supply-chain challenge was making enough boards for eager tinkerers and classrooms. The firm increasingly looks less like a hobbyist hardware vendor and more like a company navigating the same semiconductor supply chain headaches as much larger technology firms. Earlier this year it raised prices on some products as memory costs climbed, while executives have repeatedly pointed to component availability as a key business risk. At least Raspberry Pi has a problem that many hardware vendors would happily take. Customers are still buying enough boards to keep the memory buyers busy. Still, Raspberry Pi said first-half profitability benefited from lower-cost DRAM inventory acquired before memory prices moved higher. As that stock is consumed, margins are expected to moderate during the second half of the year. Still, management seems willing to sacrifice some profitability to secure supply. It turns out the AI boom affects more than datacenter operators. Even Raspberry Pi is now playing the DRAM market. ®

Raspberry Pi raises profit forecast as AI demand grows

Raspberry Pi has increased its profit expectations due to strong demand for the small computers amid rapid growth in the AI sector. The Cambridge-based firm said it expected to deliver adjusted earnings of at least $38m (£28.2m) for the first half of 2026. The update sent shares in the company up by as much as 25% in early trading on Friday, lifting its market value to around £2bn. The credit card-sized computers are increasingly being used to create AI-powered devices, offering a cheaper alternative to more specialised hardware. The company said it has seen the value of its stock more than triple since the start of the year. The group said recent strong performance reflected "robust demand for its products", with more than four million in unit sales expected for the half-year. It said it is therefore on track for earnings to be "significantly ahead of current market expectations" for 2026 as a whole. Raspberry Pi's devices are the most widely sold computers by a UK firm and are popular with people who programme as a hobby. More recently, some enthusiasts have begun using the low-cost machines to host AI assistants such as OpenClaw. The company has also raised prices several times for many of its products over the past few months after a global shortage of memory chips, driven in part by demand from AI data centres, pushed up component costs. Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.

UK's Raspberry Pi lifts annual profit forecast on strong first-half results

June 5 (Reuters) - Single-board computing company Raspberry Pi on Friday raised its full-year 2026 profit forecast, saying strong AI-related demand was expected to result in adjusted core profit "significantly ahead" of market expectations for the year. The company expects first-half core profit of at least $38 million, with unit shipments of over 4 million for the six months ending June 30. The performance is likely to be helped by growth in volumes, a favourable product mix, and inventory stockpiled in FY 2025. Raspberry Pi, however, warned that margins per unit would moderate in the second half as memory chip inventory shrinks. It said it would tap debt facilities to make strategic memory purchases to secure supply amid an unprecedented scarcity driven by surging AI demand. (Reporting by DhanushVignesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)