diff --git a/src/vmspawn/vmspawn-util.h b/src/vmspawn/vmspawn-util.h
index a8a69a9e50..f851fd48e0 100644
--- a/src/vmspawn/vmspawn-util.h
+++ b/src/vmspawn/vmspawn-util.h
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@
 #  define ARCHITECTURE_SUPPORTS_SMM 0
 #endif
 
+#if defined(__x86_64__) || defined(__i386__)
+#  define ARCHITECTURE_SUPPORTS_HPET 1
+#else
+#  define ARCHITECTURE_SUPPORTS_HPET 0
+#endif
+
 #if defined(__x86_64__) || defined(__i386__)
 #  define QEMU_MACHINE_TYPE "q35"
 #elif defined(__arm__) || defined(__aarch64__) || defined(__riscv) || defined(__loongarch64)
diff --git a/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c b/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c
index a3dd1432b2..2771b26349 100644
--- a/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c
+++ b/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c
@@ -1578,10 +1578,11 @@ static int run_virtual_machine(int kvm_device_fd, int vhost_device_fd) {
                             "falling back to OVMF firmware blobs without Secure Boot support.");
 
         shm = arg_directory || arg_runtime_mounts.n_mounts != 0 ? ",memory-backend=mem" : "";
+        const char *hpet = ARCHITECTURE_SUPPORTS_HPET ? ",hpet=off" : "";
         if (ARCHITECTURE_SUPPORTS_SMM)
-                machine = strjoin("type=" QEMU_MACHINE_TYPE ",smm=", on_off(ovmf_config->supports_sb), shm);
+                machine = strjoin("type=" QEMU_MACHINE_TYPE ",smm=", on_off(ovmf_config->supports_sb), shm, hpet);
         else
-                machine = strjoin("type=" QEMU_MACHINE_TYPE, shm);
+                machine = strjoin("type=" QEMU_MACHINE_TYPE, shm, hpet);
         if (!machine)
                 return log_oom();