In the embedded and industrial computing space, OEMs are constantly seeking platforms that offer reliability, scalability, and long-term support. While Raspberry Pi is widely known for its accessible single-board computers, its custom silicon development is a lesser-known but powerful differentiator, especially for OEMs building industrial-grade products.
What does “custom silicon” mean?
Custom silicon refers to chips that are designed in-house, rather than sourced from third-party vendors. Raspberry Pi has taken this approach with products like the RP2040 microcontroller and the Broadcom SoCs used in its Compute Modules. This gives Raspberry Pi full control over the architecture, performance characteristics, and lifecycle of its hardware.
Why OEMs should care
1. Long-term availability & supply chain stability
One of the biggest pain points for OEMs is component obsolescence. When a chip vendor discontinues a product, it can force costly redesigns and disrupt production timelines.
By designing its own silicon, Raspberry Pi can:
- Guarantee extended availability of key components
- Mitigate supply chain risks, especially during global shortages
- Align product lifecycles with industrial deployment timelines
This is a huge win for OEMs building products with 5–10 year lifespans.
2. Silicon optimised for embedded applications
Unlike general-purpose chips, Raspberry Pi’s custom silicon is tailored for embedded workloads:
- Low power consumption for always-on devices
- Compact form factors ideal for integration into OEM hardware
- Industrial-grade reliability tested for harsh environments
This means OEMs get performance where it matters, without paying for unnecessary features.
3. Full-stack control
Raspberry Pi’s vertical integration, from silicon to board to software, enables:
- Tighter hardware/software optimisation
- Faster debugging and support
- More predictable performance across product lines
For OEMs, this translates to faster development cycles and fewer surprises in production.
4. Strategic roadmap alignment
Because Raspberry Pi owns its silicon IP, it can evolve its products based on real-world industrial needs. OEMs benefit from:
- Transparent product roadmaps
- Opportunities for collaboration or customisation
- Confidence in long-term platform stability
This is especially valuable for OEMs building mission-critical systems or planning multi-year rollouts.
5. Cost efficiency without compromise
Custom silicon allows Raspberry Pi to strike a balance between performance and affordability. OEMs get:
- High-performance compute at a fraction of the cost
- Modular options via Compute Modules for scalable integration
- Reduced BOM complexity, thanks to tightly integrated designs
A smarter foundation for industrial innovation
Raspberry Pi’s investment in custom silicon isn’t just a technical achievement, it’s a strategic advantage for OEMs. From supply chain resilience to embedded optimisation, it empowers manufacturers to build smarter, more reliable products with confidence.
Benefits of Custom Silicon to OEMs
For original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), custom silicon offers a significant competitive edge by providing superior performance, energy efficiency, and feature integration that is impossible to achieve with generic, off-the-shelf chips. Designing a chip tailored to a specific product allows an OEM to create a solution optimised for a particular function, from extending battery life in a consumer device to enhancing processing speed in networking equipment. This approach enables companies to develop products that are not just incrementally better but fundamentally more performant and efficient, securing a strong market position.
Furthermore, while the initial development costs for custom silicon are high, it becomes the most cost-effective option for high-volume production runs. This also allows for greater long-term product support and stability, which is essential for industries like automotive electronics. Finally, custom silicon simplifies the process of embedding robust security features directly into the hardware, helping OEMs bring more reliable and secure products to market faster by addressing modern security challenges at the chip level.
The Future of Custom Silicon
The future of custom silicon is being propelled by the immense and growing demand for AI compute, which is driving the need for more energy-efficient hardware solutions as the benefits of Moore's Law diminish. It is projected that by 2028, customised solutions could account for 25% of all AI processors. A significant trend is the application of AI to the chip design process itself, using machine learning to autonomously optimise for power, performance, and area, which can reduce design time from months to minutes. This is creating a self-reinforcing loop of innovation, making custom silicon design more efficient and accessible.
The industry is also seeing the emergence of new business models, with companies specialising in specific parts of the value chain, and exploring new architectural paradigms like in-memory computing and silicon photonics to achieve even greater performance and efficiency.
Looking to future-proof your next industrial design?
Explore Raspberry Pi compute modules and custom silicon solutions here
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