IN Brief:
- Raspberry Pi shipped 4.2 million units in the first half of 2026, up 17% year on year.
- Direct shipments rose 26% to 3.4 million units as OEM adoption increased, while the total order backlog reached 2.6 million units.
- Strategic memory purchases and production capacity expansion are supporting second-half volumes and planned growth into 2027.
Raspberry Pi shipped 4.2 million units during the first half of 2026 as stronger direct and OEM demand pushed its order backlog to 2.6 million units, double the level recorded at the end of 2025.
Total shipments increased by 17% from 3.6 million units a year earlier. Direct shipments, excluding licensees, rose 26% to 3.4 million and accounted for 81% of volume, compared with 75% during the corresponding period of 2025.
The company attributes much of the change in channel mix to growing OEM adoption as Raspberry Pi boards, compute modules, silicon, and related products are incorporated into finished commercial equipment rather than being purchased solely for education, prototyping, and development.
Revenue for the six months ended 30 June increased 90% to $256.9 million, while adjusted EBITDA rose 108% to $40.3 million. Gross profit reached $59.4 million, although gross margin declined from 25% to 23%.
Behind those figures, memory availability and production capacity remain closely tied to the company’s ability to convert orders into shipments. Raspberry Pi entered the period with strategic memory inventory purchased during 2025 and says that stock, together with a more diversified supplier base, helped maintain product availability during disruption in the memory market.
The company reports that it has sufficient memory either in stock or on order to meet its 2026 production objectives and is continuing to purchase components against expected 2027 requirements. Building inventory ahead of demand reduces immediate exposure to allocation, although it also commits capital before finished products are shipped.
Component constraints remain visible elsewhere in the portfolio. Pi Zero unit sales fell 9% after congestion at a Taiwanese packaging supplier affected availability of a core component. Demand remained above supply, leaving approximately one million Pi Zero units on back order at the end of the first half.
Microcontroller volumes also declined, falling 11% to four million devices, while licensee shipments dropped 11% to 0.8 million units. The first-half increase was therefore concentrated in direct business rather than spread evenly across every product family and route to market.
Five product and platform launches were completed during the period, including AI HAT+ 2 for Raspberry Pi 5. The accelerator broadens the company’s edge-AI offering while its established embedded products continue to move into industrial, communications, smart-home, aerospace, defence, and other commercial applications.
OEM customers place different demands on the supply base from users buying boards for individual projects. Commercial equipment programmes depend on repeatable configuration, lifecycle support, documentation, compliance, software maintenance, and a supply plan capable of supporting production well beyond an initial development run.
A backlog of 2.6 million units demonstrates both the scale of demand and the pressure this places on production. Raspberry Pi expects second-half unit volumes to exceed those recorded in the first half as additional capacity comes on line and the existing order book moves through manufacturing.
The company is also carrying what it describes as a substantial pipeline of OEM opportunities into 2027. Converting those programmes into sustained production will require component procurement and manufacturing expansion to keep pace without creating availability gaps across the existing customer base.
Raspberry Pi’s move into higher-volume OEM programmes has gradually changed the role of its hardware within the electronics market. Products that originated as accessible development and education platforms now sit inside commercial systems whose manufacturers expect predictable production and support over much longer periods.
The first-half results put that transition into measurable terms: direct shipments have grown faster than overall volume, the backlog has doubled, and component inventory is being purchased against future production requirements. Delivery against the backlog during the second half will provide the next indication of whether capacity can expand at the same rate as OEM adoption.
