Fungible DPU Ethernet adapters
Ethernet interfaces exposed by Fungible's data processing unit (DPU) PCIe cards, a short-lived class of programmable smart networking hardware aimed at hyperscale datacenters. Fungible shipped these accelerators around 2020-2022 before Microsoft acquired the company in January 2023 and absorbed the team into its own infrastructure efforts.
recommendation
It should stay because the driver is still being actively maintained upstream, with patches landing as recently as late 2025 and early 2026 to keep it aligned with current networking APIs. Although Fungible was acquired by Microsoft in January 2023 and standalone hardware sales effectively ended in 2022, surviving deployments still need a working driver and there is no sign of removal discussion on netdev.
repository signals
sources
- spinics.net
A January 9, 2026 net-next patch updated funeth for a new ethtool callback, showing current upstream maintenance activity.
- spinics.net
An October 14, 2025 net-next patch converted funeth to the ndo_hwtstamp API, another sign of active upkeep rather than abandonment.
- blogs.microsoft.com
Microsoft announced on January 9, 2023 that it acquired Fungible and folded the team into its datacenter infrastructure work, indicating the hardware became part of an internal hyperscale roadmap rather than an independent product line.
- blocksandfiles.com
Reporting in December 2022 said Fungible had already shrunk its product line before the Microsoft deal, supporting the view that new standalone deployments tapered off after 2022.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local shell inspection confirmed this is a real PCI Ethernet driver (`module_pci_driver`, Fungible PCI vendor ID, Kconfig says PF/VF support). The two spinics URLs were obtained via web search for `funeth netdev`; they show 2025-2026 maintenance/API-conversion traffic and no removal discussion surfaced in those search results, so absence of removal talk is an inference from search coverage rather than proof. The Microsoft blog URL was obtained via web search for Fungible acquisition and is the primary source for the 2023 acquisition. The Blocks & Files URL was obtained via web search for Fungible product availability and supports the judgment that standalone hardware sales effectively ended around 2022. Net result: niche datacenter hardware, likely still deployed in limited legacy/internal environments, but not a removal candidate while upstream maintenance remains active.