Intel Habana Gaudi2 AI training accelerators
Intel's Gaudi 2 deep-learning accelerator cards, sold by Habana Labs (an Intel subsidiary) for training and inference of large AI models in data centers and cloud instances. The cards have been generally available since 2022 and remain a current Intel product line in 2025, offered through Intel Tiber Developer Cloud, Genesis Cloud, and direct purchase.
recommendation
It should stay because the hardware is still sold and deployed in production AI clouds in 2025, Intel continues to publish developer documentation for it, and the kernel code has seen sustained fixes and features through late 2024 and into 2025 with no upstream removal discussion. Although the Gaudi3 successor exists, it does not replace this driver — Gaudi2 owners still rely on the same habanalabs stack.
repository signals
sources
- git.kernel.org
Canonical upstream log URL for this directory; together with local git history, this indicates the gaudi2 code is actively maintained rather than abandoned.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows the habanalabs accel driver is still present in current kernels (6.3 through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD).
- intel.com
Intel still markets Gaudi 2 as a current product, with cloud and data-center purchase/deployment paths.
- intel.com
Intel developer documentation updated on 2024-10-10 still documents running workloads on Gaudi accelerators via Intel Tiber Developer Cloud, showing ongoing supported deployments.
- intel.com
Intel article updated on 2024-10-25 describes Gaudi 2 cloud instances with Genesis Cloud, supporting continued real-world deployment.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local shell inspection confirms this is a real hardware driver directory under habanalabs, not helper-only code. Local `git log` (shell) shows sustained non-treewide gaudi2 fixes/features through late 2024, and the user-provided history extends substantive touches into 2025; I used the canonical git.kernel.org log URL to cite that upstream history. Intel and LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search/open. Separate web searches against lore.kernel.org for gaudi2 removal/deprecation produced no visible hits, so I found no active upstream removal discussion. Gaudi3 is a hardware successor, but there is no distinct upstream replacement driver for Gaudi2; the same habanalabs stack remains the supported path.