Sony celebrates building 10 million Raspberry Pi devices

Sony has revealed it's manufactured 10 million of the 14 million Raspberry Pi devices it's shipped so far in Wales, putting the tiny country on the map as a major tech producer.

In fact, the Japanese manufacturer has committed so much to producing the microcomputers in Wales, it's had to more than double its staff in the region to ensure it can keep up with supply demands.

"The last five years has seen unprecedented growth across our Pencoed facility, something we are understandably incredibly proud of," Sony's UK TEC managing director Steve Dalton said.

"Our growth has been intrinsically linked to the success of the Raspberry Pi and we are delighted to reach the 10m manufacturing milestone. This is a significant achievement for everyone involved in its production, especially our devoted Sony Team, the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and distributors Premier Farnell."

He went on to say that it's has a huge impact on helping Wales grow its presence in the tech sector, manufacturing a low-cost electronics device at such a high volume.

Raspberry Pi's creator Eben Upton also praised the workforce and the efforts of Sony and its partners, saying it has contributed a lot to the microcomputer's success.

"The last five years has been extremely exciting for us as we watched the Raspberry Pi become Britain's best-selling computer of all time," he said. "We are particularly delighted that the Pi has set the benchmark for utilising innovative and progressive manufacturing right here in the UK, as it was always our wish to make the computers in this country."

Despite the successes to date, Upton thinks it's still going to take time before Raspberry Pi 4 is ready for release, saying technical developments are holding the foundation back from being able to develop the next iteration of the device.

"We're kind of at the end of the road for 40 nanometer," he said. "There's not much more you can do in that process, because ultimately you're limited by thermals. In the end, you can add as much silicon area as you want, because if you can't afford to toggle the transistors in the silicon because the thing will cook, then you can't get any faster."