Broadcom don't want an open hardware platform. Look at the license on the Pi bootloader and their legal behaviour when Odroid started selling a Pi clone. The entire Pi hardware ecosystem is setup so that the Pi Foundation are at the top of the food chain and it's been a massive success. RISC-V is the last thing Broadcom want on a Raspberry Pi.
Don't misunderstand this as a criticism either. The rest of the hobbyist SBC ecosystem has had no such guidance or overarching plan, and it's a complete mess of overpriced and/or poorly supported boards. Broadcom put in the hard yards to make their product successful and we're all better off for it.
Does Boardcom own Raspberry Pi? Or are they independent entities? Is there a contractual obligation between the two that prevents Raspberry Pi from using other CPU vendors?
If there is a requirement to stick with Boardroom, can Broadcom start experimenting with RISC-V? It is probably strategy for Broadcom as well...
All the Pi Foundation engineers are either Broadcom employees or ex employees still affiliated with the parent. So yes, Broadcom do effectively own and control the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
Again that's fine and the 10+ years of excellent Raspberry Pi user experience speak for themselves. I'm glad Broadcom did this.
But the purpose is to sell Broadcom SBCs, not to make an open source hardware platform.
IF there is a RISC-V Pi, it'll be because Broadcom see benefit for the rest of their product lines. Not to make open source Linux and ISA nerds happy.
> All the Pi Foundation engineers are either Broadcom employees or ex employees still affiliated with the parent. So yes, Broadcom do effectively own and control the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
And yet RP2040 exists; an in-house ARM design manufactured by TSMC.
> All the Pi Foundation engineers are either Broadcom employees or ex employees still affiliated with the parent. So yes, Broadcom do effectively own and control the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
Both parts of this are completely wrong. I live and work in Cambridge UK, and know several people who work for Raspberry Pi.
A small number of the original Pi staff (primarily Eben Upton) are former Broadcom employees who maintain a good relationship with Broadcom because it's good sense to remain friendly with the source of all your chips. Notably Eben is not an employee of Broadcom any more. He used to be both but hasn't for a couple of years.
The Raspberry Pi foundation is a charity that is not controlled by Broadcom. Broadcom are merely a key supplier.
> But the purpose is to sell Broadcom SBCs, not to make an open source hardware platform.
RPi’s purpose is educational - consistent with their charitable status - it’s definitely not to sell Broadcom SoCs or (except to the extent that this overlaps with their educational purpose) to make an open source hardware platform - although it seems a lot of commenters here think it is or should be.
A less tinfoil-hat view is that Raspberry Pi, who have been members of the RISC-V foundation for years, will evaluate the possibility of a RISC-V Pi when someone capable of producing a RISC-V SoC in volume offers to produce one at an attractive price.
Don't misunderstand this as a criticism either. The rest of the hobbyist SBC ecosystem has had no such guidance or overarching plan, and it's a complete mess of overpriced and/or poorly supported boards. Broadcom put in the hard yards to make their product successful and we're all better off for it.