HiSilicon FMC/SFC and NXP LPC SPIFI SPI-NOR flash controllers
On-chip SPI-NOR flash controllers used to attach serial NOR flash chips to embedded systems-on-chip: HiSilicon's Flash Memory Controller / Serial Flash Controller blocks found on their ARM SoCs, and NXP's SPIFI peripheral built into LPC17xx, LPC18xx, and LPC43xx microcontrollers, where it typically holds firmware or boot code.
recommendation
Worth keeping but worth flagging as niche embedded hardware. The directory holds two small platform drivers: one for HiSilicon's FMC/SFC SPI-NOR controller found on their SoCs, and one for NXP's LPC SPIFI block used on LPC17xx/18xx/43xx microcontrollers. Both Kconfig options are still present in current kernels, the directory is still receiving commits into 2026, and NXP still lists LPC1778 as an active product, so there is no case for removal — just a note that this serves embedded board users rather than mainstream systems.
repository signals
sources
- git.kernel.org
Mainline history for this directory shows continued maintenance into 2026 rather than abandonment or removal.
- cateee.net
CONFIG_SPI_HISI_SFC is still present in current kernel series and maps to the HiSilicon FMC/SFC SPI-NOR controller driver in this directory.
- cateee.net
CONFIG_SPI_NXP_SPIFI is still present in current kernel series and maps to the NXP LPC SPIFI controller driver in this directory.
- nxp.com
NXP lists LPC1778 as Active, indicating at least part of the NXP SPIFI-backed hardware family was still sold new in 2025.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed this directory contains two real platform drivers: `hisi-sfc.c` and `nxp-spifi.c`. Local `git log` showed substantive touches through 2026-02-06 and no clear removal/deprecation discussion in commit subjects for this path. LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search and confirm both Kconfig options remain in current kernels. The NXP product URL was obtained via web search and supports ongoing new-sale status for the LPC1778 SPIFI family. Overall this looks like a niche, low-deployment but still maintained controller directory, so keep it but annotate it as narrow/embedded hardware coverage.