NXP Posts New Linux Accelerator Driver For Their Neutron NPU

NXP has submitted a new open-source Linux kernel driver for their Neutron NPU, designed for machine learning acceleration in edge AI applications. The Neutron NPU, found in SoCs like the i.MX95, combines a RISC-V core running proprietary firmware, Neutron cores, dedicated fast memory, and a DMA engine. Alongside the kernel driver, NXP is also providing an open-source user-space library and a custom LiteRT (formerly TensorFlow Lite) delegate to run ML workloads on the NPU. The patch series is currently under code review for potential inclusion in a future Linux kernel version.