Intel QuickAssist Technology 420xx crypto/compression accelerators
PCIe accelerator hardware built into recent Intel server platforms that offloads cryptographic operations (bulk encryption, public-key crypto) and data compression from the CPU. The 420xx generation is current Intel silicon used in contemporary data-center and infrastructure deployments.
recommendation
It should stay in the kernel because it supports current Intel server hardware that is still sold new in 2025. Support was only added in December 2023 and has continued to receive substantive updates through 2025, including shutdown handling and live-migration improvements, with no replacement driver and no removal effort in sight.
repository signals
sources
- git.kernel.org
Mainline Linux has a dedicated PCI driver directory for Intel QAT 420xx devices, including firmware declarations and a PCI ID match for 0x4946.
- git.kernel.org
Support for 420xx devices was added to the kernel in December 2023, indicating a recent hardware enablement rather than legacy carry-over.
- intel.com
Intel QuickAssist is an active Intel acceleration product line aimed at contemporary server and infrastructure deployments.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local `exec_command` inspection of adf_drv.c confirmed this is a real PCI driver for PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_QAT_420XX with module_pci_driver and firmware blobs. Local `exec_command` git history shows first support commit fcf60f4bcf54 in 2023-12 and multiple substantive 2025 fixes/features for qat_420xx, including shutdown handling and live-migration/bank-state work, which argues against deprecation. A local grep of recent commit subjects found no explicit removal/deprecation series for this directory. Source URLs: kernel tree URL and commit URL supplied by canonical recall of stable git.kernel.org patterns, corroborated by local shell inspection; Intel QAT overview URL supplied by canonical recall for product-line market context. Because this driver is new, actively maintained, and tied to a current Intel server acceleration family with no same-hardware replacement driver, the recommendation is keep.