AMD XDNA Linux Driver Updated As It Nears The Upstream Kernel

Back in January AMD published an open-source XDNA Linux kernel driver for supporting their Ryzen AI NPUs. But it wasn't until July that the formal review process for the AMD XDNA driver began as the necessary prerequisite for getting picked up into the mainline Linux kernel. On Friday the fourth iteration of those patches for review were published as it hopefully is closing in on landing within the mainline kernel.

With the AMD Ryzen 7040 series having launched in mid-2023, as we approach the end of 2024 it's unfortunate that this AMD XDNA driver hasn't yet entered the mainline kernel for supporting the Ryzen AI NPUs found in those mobile SoCs over the past year and a half or so. As it stands right now if the fourth round of review goes well, the soonest this driver will be merged is for the Linux v6.13 merge window that is happening in mid-to-late November. But the stable Linux v6.13 kernel won't be out until next February... So for those concerned with the out-of-the-box support on the likes of Ubuntu or similar, it's not until next spring with the likes of Ubuntu 25.04 and others where there might be out-of-the-box Ryzen AI support on Linux -- two years after the AMD NPU first began premiering within laptops.

In any event the v4 patches are now out for review. The updated patches remove earlier debug buffer object code plus have various other code changes as a result of earlier code review.

Those interested can find the new AMD XDNA Ryzen AI driver patches on the dri-devel list for review. Going along with the kernel driver is the XRT and AMD AIE IREE Plugin for the user-space stack. There's also necessary NPU firmware needed for rounding out the support.