Look into the Next Thing Co GR8 -- it's a vaguely similar SOC (the thing in the Chip Pro) but is (in theory - I haven't investigated) available in small quantities and with an accessible datasheet.

The Next Thing Co GR8 is clearly not made by Broadcom. Look at the bottom of

> https://getchip.com/pages/chippro

who comes in question as manufacturer of the SoC (hint: Broadcom is not among them). Also according to

> https://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP_Pro-Hardware/blob/master...

it uses a Mali400 GPU (not a VideoCore IV as the RPi).

> or even buy them if you are not a large company

Because of the cost? Or do they refuse to deal with small companies?

The latter. Their chips aren't sold through distributors, and they'll pretty much only give the time of day to high-volume OEMs. They stonewall companies that are big enough to get in-person visits from sales engineers from other major vendors (TI, Freescale, Xilinx). Raspberry Pi cofounder Eben Upton was a technical director at Broadcom, so he had inside connections.

They normally deal in massive quantities. Asking for a couple thousand units just isn't worth the effort. That's what makes the RPi Foundation unique -- Broadcom _does_ deal in small quantities for them in support of the mission.

> Broadcom _does_ deal in small quantities for them in support of the mission.

Rather: originally in support of the mission. :-)