Sophgo CV18XX and SG200X USB 2.0 PHY
The USB 2.0 physical-layer interface block built into Sophgo's CV1800B, CV180xB, SG2000, and SG2002 RISC-V SoCs, which power small Linux single-board computers like the Milk-V Duo and Duo S sold today in 2025.
recommendation
It should stay because it is a brand-new driver merged in July 2025 for silicon that Sophgo and Milk-V are actively selling, and it is still receiving small maintenance touch-ups (a header cleanup landed in November 2025). Deployment is currently niche and embedded, but there is no replacement driver and no signal that anyone wants it gone.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
The driver was introduced upstream on 2025-07-08 as "phy: sophgo: Add USB 2.0 PHY driver for Sophgo CV18XX/SG200X".
- git.kernel.org
A 2025-11-12 follow-up commit removed a deprecated unused header from this driver, showing minor ongoing maintenance rather than removal activity.
- milkv.io
Milk-V's current Duo product page lists CV1800B and SG2002 boards, Linux/RTOS support, USB capability, and active buy links, indicating current new-hardware availability for this SoC family.
- milkv.io
Milk-V's current Duo S product page lists an SG2000 board with USB 2.0 host support and active buy links, indicating current new-hardware availability for SG2000-based systems.
- sophgo.com
Sophgo's current homepage still lists SG200X and CV180xB among its core products, indicating the silicon family is still actively marketed.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local `sed` on the source showed a real platform PHY driver with compatible `sophgo,cv1800b-usb2-phy` and module entry-point. `lore-http` MCP was unavailable here and `lei` was not installed, so lore history was approximated with local `git log -- drivers/phy/sophgo`; that log directly exposed the lore patch URL for the add-series and the 2025-11-12 cleanup commit hash. The git.kernel.org cleanup URL is a canonical stable commit URL derived from that local hash. Milk-V and Sophgo pages were obtained via web search/open. Net result: this is a very new, SoC-specific driver for hardware still sold in 2025; deployment looks niche/embedded rather than broad, but there is no removal signal and no generic replacement driver.