Raspberry Pi stock is soaring: can it become an AI play?

Shares of Raspberry Pi surged again on Wednesday, extending a rally that has almost doubled the stock’s value over the past week, before paring some of the gains later in the session.

The sharp move higher was driven by a combination of insider buying and renewed interest on social media, which together helped reignite investor attention in the UK-based computer hardware maker.

One catalyst was share purchases by chief executive Eben Upton, which helped halt a months-long decline and encouraged investors to reassess the company’s prospects.

More broadly, the stock has benefited from renewed debate over whether Raspberry Pi could gain from low-cost artificial intelligence projects.

Investors have focused on the potential for its inexpensive single-board computers to be used as platforms for running AI agents, supporting fresh interest in the shares.

By 12:29 pm (UTC), the stock was up by over 20% and more than 83% over the last five days.

The stock rose another 29% in early trading, following a record two-day surge that included a 42% jump on Tuesday.

Investor focus shifts after CEO share purchases

Raspberry Pi has caught the market’s attention after Upton purchased shares on four occasions over the past fortnight, spending a total of £112,718.

Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said the purchases had played a significant role in lifting sentiment.

“Buying shares signals support in the business,” Coatsworth wrote in a note, adding that the transactions encouraged investors to reassess the company’s prospects after a difficult period.

Raspberry Pi’s stock initially rose after its June 2024 listing but had been sliding since last summer amid falling profits and rising component costs.

The company, valued at roughly $800 million, warned earlier this year that higher memory chip prices were weighing on margins.

The cost of LPDDR4 DRAM, used in many Raspberry Pi products, has risen sharply as manufacturers shift capacity toward booming AI data centre demand.

AI chatter fuels meme-style momentum

The recent rally has also coincided with a surge of online speculation that Raspberry Pi’s low-cost, single-board computers could find new demand as a platform for running AI agents.

Social media users have pointed to projects such as OpenClaw, an AI chatbot that can be deployed on clusters of Raspberry Pi devices and integrated with messaging apps to manage tasks such as emails and calendars.

Videos showing enthusiasts running AI workloads on networks of Raspberry Pis have gone viral, helping to frame the stock as a potential “AI meme trade”.

Posts on X have argued that the company’s inexpensive hardware makes it attractive for mass deployment of isolated AI instances, in contrast to higher-end consumer devices.

One widely shared post contrasted Raspberry Pi with Apple, arguing that while buyers have been hoarding Mac Minis, Apple’s vast market value means product demand has little impact on its share price.

By comparison, Raspberry Pi’s smaller scale means any pickup in sales could be more material for revenue and earnings.

X user @aleabitoreddit, who has more than 58,000 followers, posted on Monday: “Fun Trade Idea: Long $RPI (Raspberry Pi),” claiming buyers have recently begun hoarding the devices because they are far cheaper than “$500‑plus Apple products.”

"Everyone has been openly hoarding Apple Mac Minis and were long Apple".

However, they pointed out that Apple is already a $3.7 trillion + company and argued that product mass-buying "won’t make a dent".

"Raspberry Pi, however, is a 542.68m company. The revenue is material. Feels like markets haven't priced this in since I've seen almost 0 mentions about the ticker on X (but many product mentions)."

"And it's only recently that have the hoarding started Raspberry Pis, 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 deploying mass deploying isolated instances."

Adam Montanaro, a fund manager at Montanaro Asset Management said in a Bloomberg report, "While the near-term growth estimates quoted by the blogger look optimistic, thematically the evolution of Raspberry Pi from hobbyist board into a core piece of AI infrastructure is correct."

From education roots to industrial focus

Founded to promote computer science education, Raspberry Pi now generates around 70% of its sales from industrial and embedded applications, supplying low-cost computing to engineers and developers worldwide.

The company went public in June 2024, with shares peaking at 766p in January 2025 before sliding to a low of 257p earlier this month.

The latest rally has lifted the price back above 400p.

In January, Raspberry Pi’s management said adjusted EBITDA for 2025 would exceed market expectations at no less than $45 million, alongside revenue growth of more than 20% year on year to $311 million.

However, the company cautioned that uncertainty over memory pricing and availability could persist into 2026, limiting visibility beyond the first half of the year.

Valuation concerns temper enthusiasm

Despite the renewed optimism, some analysts have urged caution.

Ben McPoland, analyst at The Motley Fool, said the stock’s sharp rise and elevated valuation made it unattractive at present.

“With meme stock traders able to dump shares en masse at any time, I’m not interested in investing in Raspberry Pi today,” he said, noting that the shares are trading at around 50 times forward earnings.

Ongoing supply chain uncertainty, he added, further complicates the investment case.

For now, Raspberry Pi’s resurgence highlights how insider buying and AI-linked narratives can rapidly shift market sentiment, even as fundamental risks remain unresolved.