Is Anyone Else Feeling the Slow Death of Hobby SBCs and IoT Boards?
From
Will-E to
all on Sunday, April 05, 2026 16:05:06
Lately I’ve been wondering if we’re watching the quiet decline of the hobbyist SBC/IoT scene, and I’m curious if others are feeling it too.
It used to be so easy to grab a Raspberry Pi for a weekend project. ESP32s were practically impulse buys. Home automation tinkering felt like a playground—flash some firmware, wire up a relay, boom, you’ve got a smart garage door or a DIY energy monitor.
But over the last couple of years, AI has been gobbling up silicon like it’s an all‑you‑can‑eat buffet. GPUs, RAM, even the low‑power chips that used to be the backbone of maker projects are getting sucked into the AI supply chain. And the fallout is hitting hobbyists hard.
Prices up. Stock down. Creativity throttled.
I’ve seen people in forums hoarding Pis like they’re prepping for the apocalypse. Others are scavenging old boards from drawers because buying new ones feels like a luxury. Even microcontrollers—microcontrollers!—are getting caught in the crossfire.
And home automation? It feels like the DIY spirit is fading. When a smart plug is cheaper and easier to get than an ESP8266, it’s no wonder people are drifting toward closed ecosystems instead of building their own stuff.
I’m not saying the hobby is dead. Far from it. Makers are resilient. People are turning to obscure boards, repurposing old hardware, or leaning into cloud‑assisted setups. But the vibe has definitely changed.
So I’m curious:
• Are you feeling the squeeze on SBCs and IoT boards?
• Have you changed how you approach home automation or hobby projects? • Are you stockpiling hardware, switching to alternatives, or just waiting for the market to stabilize?
• Or do you think this is all temporary and we’ll bounce back once the AI hardware frenzy cools off?
I’d love to hear what others are seeing in the wild.