Raspberry Pi made in Africa

Eben Upton and Mike Buffham at the Gearbox Europlacer plant, Nairobi, Kenya. © Raspberry Pi Ltd.

Going against the grain of many companies that manufacture their products in Asia, Raspberry Pi Ltd announced that it started producing the Raspberry Pi Pico, meant for the African market, in Nairobi, Kenya.

The very first Raspberry Pi cards were made in China in 2012, but the company relocated shortly thereafter to the Sony UK Technology Center in Pencoed, in the south of Wales. Since then, most Raspberry Pi products are made in Pencoed, except for the Pico W, which is produced at Sony Inazawa in Japan, and the PoE+ HAT (a power-over-Ethernet card), which is made in China.

Eben Upton, CEO at Raspberry Pi Ltd, says that manufacturing domestically means they can iterate more rapidly, and that having a plant in the UK, which is one of their largest markets, simplifies distribution logistics and lets them respond more promptly to shifting demand.

⇨ Raspberry Pi News, Eben Upton, “Made in Kenya.”

2022-11-21