Arm acquired a minority stake in device maker Raspberry Pi, pitching the move as beneficial to both companies’ efforts in the IoT.
The UK-based company explained its investment was prompted by growing use of Raspberry Pi’s products in the IoT, citing an explosion of interest driven by AI in particular.
It stated it had collaborated with Raspberry Pi since 2008, work which delivered “many popular Arm-based” products “for students, enthusiasts and commercial developers”.
Raspberry PI CEO Eben Upton cited the pair’s long relationship, explaining basing its products on Arm technology “offers us access to the compute performance, energy efficiency and extensive software ecosystem” it needs.
Both companies argued their collaborations had already proved key in removing barriers for people seeking to develop IoT products and services.
But Paul Williamson, SVP and GM of Arm’s IoT Line of Business, explained the “rapid growth of edge and endpoint AI applications” mean platforms like Raspberry Pi “are critical to driving the adoption of high-performance IoT devices”.
He added the investment is testament to Arm’s “continued commitment to the developer community”.
