Raspberry Pi Pico 2 & RP2350: Why Makers Are Switching to RISC-V Hazard3 Cores

When the original Raspberry Pi Pico launched, it quickly conquered the maker community by offering inexpensive dual-core ARM silicon with versatile Programmable I/O (PIO) state machines. Yet, beneath the familiar form factor of the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 powered by the RP2350 microcontroller lies one of the most audacious hardware experiments in embedded computing: true dual-architecture silicon.

Rather than locking developers into a single processor ecosystem, the RP2350 contains both dual Arm Cortex-M33 cores and dual open-source Hazard3 RISC-V cores. For makers and hardware hackers in 2026, this opens an unprecedented playground for open silicon experimentation without sacrificing stability.

What Is the Hazard3 RISC-V Core?

Designed in-house by Raspberry Pi engineer Luke Wren, the Hazard3 is an open-standard, 3-stage pipeline RISC-V processor implementing the RV32I instruction set with extensions for compressed instructions, multiplication, and atomic operations.

What makes the implementation groundbreaking for hobbyists is its execution:

• Boot-Time Architecture Selection: You can choose at boot whether the microcontroller spins up its Arm Cortex-M33 cores or boots directly into the open-source Hazard3 RISC-V cores via a simple firmware flag.
• Near-Parity Clock Speeds: Both core pairs run up to a rated 150 MHz (with substantial headroom for stable overclocking), ensuring your mathematical routines and sensor polling execute without perceptible performance penalties.
• Open Architecture Freedom: Makers can write native RISC-V assembly, explore bare-metal toolchains, and study the open RTL code without dealing with proprietary processor licensing.

Key Upgrades for Maker Projects

Beyond its architectural switchability, the Pico 2 brings massive quality-of-life enhancements to the workbench:

• Double the On-Chip SRAM: With 520 KB of SRAM and up to 4MB of external flash, you have ample memory headroom to run complex MicroPython routines, host lightweight neural network models, or drive responsive color displays.
• Expanded PIO State Machines: An additional PIO block increases state machines from eight to twelve, allowing you to synthesize custom high-speed protocols—such as DVI video generation, stepper motor pulses, or logic analyzer capture—entirely in hardware.
• Robust Hardware Security: The inclusion of Arm TrustZone alongside RISC-V Physical Memory Protection (PMP) lets makers experiment with secure bootloaders and encrypted storage keys.

Getting Started on the Bench

Transitioning your existing projects to the Pico 2 is frictionless:

1. Plug your board in over USB while holding the Bootsel button to mount it as a mass-storage volume.
2. Flash the official MicroPython UF2 firmware pre-compiled for the Hazard3 target.
3. Open your favorite code editor (such as Thonny or VS Code) to deploy code immediately using standard Python libraries.

Final Thoughts

The Raspberry Pi Pico 2 democratizes RISC-V development by lowering the barrier to entry to just five dollars. Whether you are building an automated robot arm, a retro game console, or custom sensor rigging, the RP2350 gives you the ultimate hardware sandbox.