Raspberry Pi surges amid optimism over AI demand

(Sharecast News) - Raspberry Pi surged on Tuesday, with traders highlighting optimism that the growing use of its computers with AI will boost demand. In particular, traders pointed to X, where one account holder posted a "fun trade idea" to go long the shares, citing growing use in AI applications such as OpenClaw and PicoClaw, Nanobot, as well as anecdotal evidence of hoarding.

Serenity, or @aleabitoreddit, wrote in a post that "everyone has been openly hoarding Apple Mac Minis and were long Apple". However, they pointed out that Apple is already a $3.7trillion + company and argued that product mass-buying "won't make a dent".

"Raspberry Pi, however, is a 542.68m company," they said, adding that the revenue is "material" and that it feels like markets haven't priced this in since there have been "almost zero" mentions about the ticker on X, but many product mentions.

Serenity, a "materials and semi/AI/fintech analyst" with just over 58,000 followers, said it's only recently that the hoarding of Raspberry Pis has started, as they're much cheaper than $500+ Apple products.

"They also have their mini $NVDA CUDA-light utility ecosystem that people use." So it turns out these extremely cheap $20 or $200 devices are perfect for mass deploying isolated instances, Serenity added.

"The reason is for OpenClaw orchestration (so they don't mess up your device)," they said.

They noted that before, people were just buying one or two for hobby/education purposes, so revenue was slowing.

"But now Silicon Valley startups and individuals anecdotally appear to be buying tens or hundreds of these things to run concurrent OpenClaw agentic swarms or do stuff like agentic marketing on Reddit and other places."

Raspberry Pi makes high-performance, low-cost single-board computers (SBCs), microcontrollers, and computing accessories mainly designed to promote computer science education and enable DIY projects.

The shares - which recently fell below the June 2024 IPO price of 280p - closed up a whopping 36% at 415p.

Raspberry Pi told Sharecast it was "not aware of any undisclosed developments driving the move".

A spokeswoman for the company noted the discussion on social media around Raspberry Pi's use in AI applications. She also pointed to chief executive Eben Upton's purchase of just under 5,000 shares on Monday, which she said "may be contributing to sentiment".

Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said: "It's common to see directors use their own money to invest in their employer following a period of share price weakness. Buying shares signals support in the business. Certain investors might take the view that if the people at the top of the ladder are putting their money where their mouth is, perhaps it's worth sitting up and taking notice.

"Raspberry Pi initially had a good start to life on the stock market, with decent gains following its IPO. However, the stock has been declining since last summer amid falling profits and a sharp rise in the cost of memory chips used in many of its products.

"Chief executive Eben Upton has now bought shares in the company on four different occasions over the past fortnight, totalling £112,718. Those trades have caught the market's eye, and the share price has gone bananas. Admittedly, it's not the millions of pounds you sometimes see with director share purchases, but it's enough to get tongues wagging in the city."