NXP i.MX8M SoC interconnect bandwidth providers
Coordinates on-chip bus and memory bandwidth on NXP's i.MX8M family of ARM SoCs (i.MX8M Mini, Nano, Quad, and Plus), scaling interconnect throughput as the GPU, display, camera, and networking blocks demand it. These chips are common in industrial controllers, edge AI gateways, and single-board computers shipping today.
recommendation
It should stay because these are the providers that let Linux negotiate memory and bus bandwidth on NXP's i.MX8M Mini, Nano, Quad, and Plus application processors, all of which NXP still markets as Active products in 2025 and which are widely used in industrial and embedded gear. Upstream activity is healthy, with bug fixes landing as recently as 2026 and routine API updates in 2024, and there is no replacement driver that could absorb its role.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
The common i.MX interconnect core still received a bug-fix patch in April 2026 ('fix use-after-free in imx_icc_node_init_qos()'), indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment.
- lore.kernel.org
The i.MX interconnect code was part of a 2024 API-conversion series ('Switch back to struct platform_driver::remove()'), showing routine upkeep, not deprecation/removal.
- lore.kernel.org
The directory covers at least i.MX8MP specifically; this file-level history also shows the driver family was being expanded for newer i.MX8M variants rather than phased out.
- nxp.com
NXP lists i.MX 8M Plus as 'Active', supporting the conclusion that covered hardware remained sold new in 2025.
- nxp.com
NXP lists i.MX 8M Mini as 'Active', reinforcing that the i.MX8M family supported by this directory is still in current embedded/industrial deployment.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local shell inspection (`rg --files`, `rg -n`, `sed`) showed this directory is a real interconnect driver family for i.MX8MM/MN/MQ/MP, not helper-only code. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/interconnect/imx/imx.c` and `imx8mp.c` showed ongoing patch traffic through 2026-04 plus 2024 maintenance/API churn and 2022 feature expansion; sampled lore activity showed no removal thread, only fixes/maintenance. Web search found official NXP product pages marking i.MX8M Plus and i.MX8M Mini as Active, so hardware is still sold new and still relevant in industrial/embedded deployments. No single upstream replacement driver exists; these are the SoC-specific providers for that hardware family.