I have ordered RP2040 chips on custom boards before from JLCPCB. Could you do the same for the compute mods?

Those boards have a lot more on the board than just the cpu. At a minimum they have power conditioning and ram, usually also storage. A lot of what you pay for with an sbc is that routing and layout. If it’s got WiFi as well, you could be paying for the testing that goes into rf micro strips and potentially certifications on em emissions.

It is, of course possible to do all that yourself, but the system on module exists, because this integration has value that people are willing to pay for.

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firesteelrain 2 days ago | parent [-]

Got it. I was more responding to the idea that you can’t get the modules outside of China when you can simply have them made via JLCPCB.

	▲	MobiusHorizons 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Ah I see. I guess if the design files are available that might be possible. Not sure about component availability though. I don’t remember for sure, but I thought there was something custom about the Broadcom Soc they were using, although that might have been for a different model.