UK Partnership to manufacture Raspberry Pi

Premier Farnell has signed a multi-million pound deal with Sony UK Technology Centre that will see the revolutionary Raspberry Pi computer manufactured in the UK for the first time.

This deal is a major coup for the UK manufacturing industry and represents a return home for the innovative British-designed Raspberry Pi, which to date has only been manufactured in China. Sony UK Technology Centre will initially produce over 300,000 units for customers across the world and is expected to create up to 30 jobs.

Premier Farnell has been selling the innovative device since February this year through its brands of Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America and element14 in the Asia-Pacific, and more recently through subsidiaries CPC in the UK and MCM Electronics in the US. The product, which has been developed by the non-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation, is a credit-card-sized computer that aims to stimulate young people’s interest in computer programming.

There is no sign of a slowdown in demand for the revolutionary computer with the element14 Community, the world’s largest online community for design engineers and electronics enthusiasts, helping to bring together Raspberry Pi fans to share ideas and further fuel innovation.