Qualcomm Crypto Engine (QCE) accelerator
An on-chip cryptographic accelerator block built into Qualcomm Snapdragon and IoT SoCs, used to offload AES, SHA, and related symmetric-crypto operations from the CPU. It appears in a wide range of current Qualcomm platforms including the QCS8250 IoT processor and recent mobile/automotive SoCs such as SM8650, SM8750, QCS8300, and IPQ9574.
recommendation
It should stay in the kernel because the hardware is still shipping on new Qualcomm SoCs in 2025 (with product longevity commitments stretching into the mid-2030s for parts like the QCS8250) and the driver is actively maintained — Qualcomm engineers were posting functional patches to linux-crypto as recently as 2026. No alternative driver covers the same on-SoC crypto offload role, so removing it would regress real, currently-sold platforms.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
QCE still receives active upstream functional work in 2026; this patch updates DMA handling in the driver.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_QCE is a current upstream driver covering Qualcomm QCE hardware and matching OF compatibles including qcom,crypto-v5.1, qcom,crypto-v5.4, and qcom,qce.
- qualcomm.com
Qualcomm still markets Linux-relevant IoT SoCs in this family timeframe; the 2024 QCS8250 brief lists enterprise/commercial IoT target applications and expected product longevity through February 2036.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Keep. lore_activity on drivers/crypto/qce/core.c showed multiple 2026 linux-crypto patches, so this is maintained rather than orphaned. No removal signal was found in the limited lore checks; the attempted directory timeline returned no hits, which looks like a path-coverage limitation rather than real inactivity. Web search + open on LKDDb confirmed the driver remains present in current kernels. Web search + open on Qualcomm's QCS8250 product brief supports ongoing new Qualcomm SoC deployments. Local exec_command grep of in-tree DTs also found current QCE compatibles on modern Qualcomm platforms (for example sm8650, sm8750, qcs8300, ipq9574), reinforcing that the hardware class is still shipping. No single upstream replacement driver covers the same on-SoC crypto offload role.