linux-drivers/
drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hns3

HiSilicon HNS3 Ethernet for Huawei Kunpeng servers

Onboard and add-in Ethernet controllers built into Huawei's HiSilicon Kunpeng 920 (HIP08-family) Arm server SoCs and TaiShan 200 systems, providing the primary network interfaces for those platforms from roughly 2019 onward.

keep conf=0.92 last_sold=2026 deploy=medium replacement=none subsystem=net category=networking-ethernet
92%

recommendation

It should stay because the hardware is still shipping in current Huawei TaiShan servers and Kunpeng-based Huawei Cloud instances, and the upstream code is being actively maintained in 2025 with ongoing bug fixes and features around ethtool, PTP, and debugfs. There is no sign of any removal effort on the kernel mailing lists.

repository signals

48 files
47,017 source lines
521 commits, 5y
+21,625 / −13,670 lines added / removed, 5y
66 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 521 total · active in 55/61 months
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2021-04: 7 commits · +22 −6 2021-05: 43 commits · +3,938 −1,991 2021-06: 25 commits · +2,320 −271 2021-07: 12 commits · +442 −17 2021-08: 43 commits · +2,027 −1,043 2021-09: 25 commits · +277 −179 2021-10: 30 commits · +760 −343 2021-11: 35 commits · +828 −549 2021-12: 37 commits · +1,785 −2,255 2022-01: 16 commits · +1,386 −1,841 2022-02: 2 commits · +118 −13 2022-03: 13 commits · +224 −57 2022-04: 17 commits · +222 −103 2022-05: 6 commits · +275 −166 2022-06: 8 commits · +90 −42 2022-07: 0 commits · +0 −0 2022-08: 4 commits · +106 −46 2022-09: 11 commits · +1,044 −249 2022-10: 1 commit · +2 −2 2022-11: 6 commits · +113 −129 2022-12: 5 commits · +163 −66 2023-01: 3 commits · +4 −3 2023-02: 1 commit · +2 −0 2023-03: 4 commits · +207 −11 2023-04: 1 commit · +1 −1 2023-05: 4 commits · +50 −15 2023-06: 3 commits · +84 −71 2023-07: 6 commits · +119 −25 2023-08: 11 commits · +1,008 −790 2023-09: 12 commits · +62 −39 2023-10: 4 commits · +222 −91 2023-11: 7 commits · +62 −15 2023-12: 3 commits · +29 −17 2024-01: 0 commits · +0 −0 2024-02: 1 commit · +2 −2 2024-03: 12 commits · +104 −33 2024-04: 7 commits · +1,472 −660 2024-05: 10 commits · +96 −61 2024-06: 2 commits · +22 −5 2024-07: 1 commit · +4 −4 2024-08: 7 commits · +80 −61 2024-09: 1 commit · +0 −4 2024-10: 10 commits · +180 −28 2024-11: 3 commits · +74 −260 2024-12: 0 commits · +0 −0 2025-01: 8 commits · +137 −93 2025-02: 1 commit · +1 −1 2025-03: 2 commits · +57 −52 2025-04: 5 commits · +68 −57 2025-05: 1 commit · +2 −2 2025-06: 9 commits · +150 −132 2025-07: 15 commits · +949 −1,634 2025-08: 3 commits · +36 −3 2025-09: 2 commits · +4 −2 2025-10: 2 commits · +72 −32 2025-11: 0 commits · +0 −0 2025-12: 3 commits · +7 −4 2026-01: 7 commits · +67 −52 2026-02: 4 commits · +49 −42 2026-03: 0 commits · +0 −0 2026-04: 0 commits · +0 −0

sources

  1. git.kernel.org

    Upstream kernel history for this directory remains active; local tree history also shows multiple substantive hns3 fixes/features in 2025, which is inconsistent with deprecation/removal.

  2. support.huawei.com

    Huawei documentation published in 2025 lists TaiShan 200 systems with an 'Onboard HNS3 NIC', indicating current supported hardware using this driver family.

  3. support.huaweicloud.com

    Huawei Cloud documentation updated on 2026-04-15 shows current Kunpeng 920-based ECS offerings, supporting the view that Kunpeng platforms remain deployed in production.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local source inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows HNS3/HCLGE PCI Ethernet support for Huawei device IDs and Kconfig text explicitly targets hip08-family SoCs and upcoming SoCs. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2025-01-01 -- drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hns3` shows ongoing nontrivial maintenance in 2025 (bug fixes, ethtool/PTP/debugfs work), so this is actively maintained rather than dormant. I attempted lore-first checks via MCP (`lore-http`) and `lei`, but MCP server was unavailable and `lei` was not installed; a web search on `lore.kernel.org` returned no removal hits, so there is no positive evidence of an active removal series. Source URLs were obtained as follows: kernel.org log URL by canonical recall matching the locally verified path/history; Huawei deployment URLs via `web.search_query` results. Because hardware is still documented as shipping/supported with onboard HNS3 NICs and the upstream driver is active, the recommendation is keep.