This document provides you the guidance to assess whether a given QSPI flash from other manufacturers is supported for Intel SDM-based FPGA ASx4 configuration by providing the SDM firmware requirement and as the step by step guide to generate the programming file to program into the supported QSPI flash device using the Quartus® Prime Programmer.

Intel Secure Device Manager (SDM)-based FPGA device supports various configuration modes, among the basic configuration modes are Active Serial (AS) x4, Avalon-ST x8/x16/x32, and JTAG.

The ASx4 mode is commonly used due to its simplicity and there is no host needed to manage the FPGA configuration. In ASx4 mode, the FPGA device initiates the configuration upon power up by reading the configuration bitstream stored in the Quad Serial Peripheral Interface (QSPI) flash device.

Starting with Stratix® 10 and Agilex™ 7 devices, Intel supported QSPI flash manufacturers limited to only Micron and Macronix, but FPGA designers may require a QSPI flash device from other manufacturers due to unforeseen circumstances, such as the component shortage in the market.

This document is applicable to the following Intel FPGA devices in the Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software starting from version 21.1:

• Stratix® 10 devices
• Agilex™ 7 devices