The Raspberry Pi Foundation has released the Compute Module 5, a $45 (quantity 1) version of the organization’s Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer (SBC) suitable for integration in embedded designs. Based on the Broadcom BCM2712 processor, the Pi 5 offers four Arm Cortex-A76 CPUs with up to 8 GB of DRAM, a GPU, numerous interfaces, and an optional Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module.
Five or so years ago, I suggested to the senior vice president running a business selling processors comparable to the BCM2712 that the company pursue designs like the Raspberry Pi, if not the beloved Pi itself. His response was that he had never heard of a company taking a Pi-based system to production. My view was that the Pi SBCs ship to hobbyists in the millions—a significant design win on their own. With the Compute Module 5 release, the foundation is reporting that about three-fourths of Pi units go to industrial and embedded applications—the exact customers the VP’s business targeted.
It’s certainly good enough business for the notoriously hard-nosed Broadcom to occasionally refresh its application processor with the odd VideoCore GPU. Architected in an era where transistor budgets for handset processors were small, this chip family would’ve been long forgotten but for the Raspberry Pi. While developers might benefit from a modern design, the Raspberry Pi shows what’s possible when a software community backs a conveniently sized, low-cost board with the right mix of peripherals and interfaces. From $45 boards to $45,000 GPUs, software and a developer community are essential to a processor’s success.