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⇱ Power Sequencing Driver For PCIe M.2 Connectors Makes It Into Linux 7.0 - Phoronix


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Power Sequencing Driver For PCIe M.2 Connectors Makes It Into Linux 7.0

Written by Michael Larabel in Hardware on 15 February 2026 at 06:07 AM EST. 6 Comments
The power sequencing subsystem updates have been merged for the Linux 7.0 cycle. Typically not an area of the kernel too exciting but one new driver addition is the "pwrseq-pcie-m2" to provide power sequencing for PCIe M.2 connectors.

This power sequencing driver for PCIe M.2 connectors is part of the effort for being able to handle PCIe M.2 connectors in Device Tree files. While those on the likes of AMD/Intel x86_64 systems and other ACPI-enabled platforms where the PCIe M.2 interfaces are managed by the firmware/BIOS, for Device Tree platforms the kernel needs to be able to power manage the connectors and associate with Device Tree descriptions.

Linux Device Tree support has lacked proper representation of M.2 connectors and that is finally being addressed with Linux 7.0. The Device Tree binding is merged for Mechanical Key M connectors and this initial enablement is tailored to SSDs via the PCIe interface.

👁 M.2 slot


The new driver is gated by the POWER_SEQUENCING_PCIE_M2 Kconfig option for power sequencing of PCIe M.2 connectors exposing interfaces like PCIe, SATA, and UART.

This addition in Linux 7.0 is the main highlight of the power sequencing pull for helping out DT platforms.

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.