MediaTek SCPSYS power-domain controllers for Dimensity and Genio SoCs
Hardware power-domain controllers (SCPSYS/MTCMOS blocks) inside MediaTek's mobile and embedded SoCs — including MT67xx, MT68xx, MT69xx, MT81xx and the newer MT8196 — that gate power and clocks to on-chip blocks like the GPU, video codecs, display, and camera ISP so phones, Chromebooks, and Genio-based IoT boards can save energy when those blocks are idle.
recommendation
It should stay because this is the in-tree controller for power domains on MediaTek's current smartphone (Dimensity) and IoT (Genio) chips, with no alternative implementation. Upstream activity is healthy: a 2025 patch series adding MT8196 support was tested on multiple Chromebooks and accepted by the pmdomain maintainer for the next merge window, and MediaTek continues to ship new SoCs in 2025 that depend on it.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
2025 patch series for this directory added MT8196 support and related new power-domain capabilities, showing active upstream development rather than retirement.
- lists.openwall.net
Ulf Hansson replied "The series applied for next", and the thread states the code was tested on multiple MT8196 Chromebooks for months; this is positive upstream integration evidence, not removal discussion.
- mediatek.com
MediaTek still marketed current Dimensity smartphone SoCs in 2025, indicating ongoing new deployments of MediaTek platforms using this power-domain infrastructure.
- mediatek.com
MediaTek still marketed Genio 720 for IoT/Linux/Ubuntu deployments in 2025, supporting continued new embedded Linux use of modern MediaTek SoCs.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Real driver directory: contains multiple C drivers plus Kconfig/Makefile, and local `rg --files`/`git log` via shell showed active work through 2026-03-12 with fixes and new MT8196 support. Upstream history was checked with `web.search_query`; the exact lore URL came from the openwall thread opened with `web.open`, which links the v1 lore series for this directory. That same openwall thread shows no removal talk and says the MT8196 series was applied for `next`. Product-deployment evidence came from official MediaTek pages found with `web.search_query`, showing 2025-era Dimensity and Genio SoCs still being sold for smartphones and Linux-capable IoT. No natural replacement driver exists; this is the in-tree controller implementation for these SoCs, so the recommendation is keep.