The upcoming Linux 6.14 kernel is poised to introduce initial support for SpacemiT platforms, the Chinese computing chip company developing “next-generation RISC-V high-performance CPUs.” For this next Linux kernel release the SpaceMiT Key Stone K1 octa-core RISC-V AI CPU with SpacemiT X60 cores will see support.
SpacemiT is a company working on “high performance” RISC-V processors for AI and related markets. Their X60 core is a RISC-V RVA22 core with Vector 1.0 extensions, additional SpacemiT IME “Intelligence” extensions, and is rated for 2.0GHz on a 22nm process… The raw performance capabilities aren’t too appealing with the X60 core is only rated for 2 TOPS @ INT8 and around 1.3x the speed of an Arm Cortex-A55 core for general CPU performance. Not exactly “high performance” RISC-V processors yet. Unfortunately I don’t have any access to SpacemiT hardware for testing/benchmarking and details on their website are scarce.
The SpacemiT Key Stone K1 is an octa-core RISC-V SoC intended for single board computers, robots, and terminals with edge-side AI models. The product page claims “excellent CPU performance” and “leading power efficiency” but again details are very limited and rather questionable.
In any event for Linux 6.14 there is set to be initial SpacemiT support with K1 and X60 patches being queued up via the soc.git’s for-next branch. With the patches having made their way into the SoC “for-next” branch, they’re set to be submitted next week for the Linux 6.14 kernel merge window.
This adds the initial Device Tree support, K1 bindings, the Banana Pi BPI-F3 DT for this RISC-V development board, and related initial bits. The Banana Pi BPI-F3 with these patches is only able to boot to the console with UART enabled and “other features will be added soon later.”
The Banana Pi BPI-F3 features the 8-core RISC-V chip, boards with up to 16GB of RAM, 5-lane PCIe 2.1 expansion capability, one USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 interfaces. The Bananan Pi BPI-F3 is listed on Amazon.com (affiliate link) for around $79 USD but with delivery taking 1~2 months.
Look for this initial SpacemiT platform support in the upcoming Linux 6.14 cycle.
