Broadcom STB, Northstar, and Stingray SoC PHY controllers
PHY (physical layer) drivers for Broadcom system-on-chip families used in cable set-top boxes, home routers, and networking gear, including the Northstar BCM4908, Stingray, and STB chips like BCM7211, BCM7216, and the newer BCM74110. They handle low-level USB, SATA, and PCIe signal layers on Broadcom silicon shipped from the mid-2010s into current 2025 products.
recommendation
It should stay in the kernel because Broadcom is still adding support for new chips here, with a 2025 patch series enabling the BCM74110 set-top box SoC and continuing PHY subsystem work into 2026. Real-world deployment is also current: OpenWrt was still shipping bcm4908 router images as of October 2025, and there is no sign of any deprecation effort upstream.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
Active upstream development in 2025: this directory gained BCM74110 USB PHY support, indicating support for newly added Broadcom STB silicon rather than maintenance-only legacy code.
- lore.kernel.org
The driver was still being touched in 2026 as part of ongoing PHY subsystem work, so it is not abandoned upstream.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows CONFIG_PHY_BRCM_USB remains present through current kernel series and lists supported compatibles including bcm4908, bcm7211, bcm7216, bcm74110 and brcmstb-usb-phy.
- downloads.openwrt.org
OpenWrt still shipped bcm4908 target images in October 2025, showing continued real-world deployment of at least one Broadcom SoC family covered by this directory.
- lists.infradead.org
A 2025 patch explicitly describes BCM74110 as a Broadcom SetTop box ARM64 SoC, reinforcing that this driver family still receives enablement for contemporary Broadcom STB hardware.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Obtained local file/chip coverage with shell rg over drivers/phy/broadcom. Lore evidence came from lore_activity and lore_file_timeline on phy-brcm-usb.c, which showed sustained activity through 2026 and a 2025 BCM74110 support series. Web search provided LKDDb for current kernel presence, OpenWrt bcm4908 release pages for present deployments, and a linux-arm-kernel patch identifying BCM74110 as a Broadcom STB SoC. No sourced evidence of an active removal/deprecation series was found. Mixed portfolio includes older SoCs, but ongoing enablement and downstream deployment argue to keep rather than deprecate.