diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 39f3e38351..562fa76a78 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -4262,6 +4262,7 @@ qemuDomainDefAddDefaultDevices(virQEMUDriver *driver,
     bool addDefaultUSBMouse = false;
     bool addPanicDevice = false;
     bool addITCOWatchdog = false;
+    bool addIOMMU = false;
 
     /* add implicit input devices */
     if (qemuDomainDefAddImplicitInputDevice(def, qemuCaps) < 0)
@@ -4284,6 +4285,10 @@ qemuDomainDefAddDefaultDevices(virQEMUDriver *driver,
             addImplicitSATA = true;
             addITCOWatchdog = true;
 
+            if (virDomainDefGetVcpusMax(def) > QEMU_MAX_VCPUS_WITHOUT_EIM) {
+                addIOMMU = true;
+            }
+
             /* Prefer adding a USB3 controller if supported, fall back
              * to USB2 if there is no USB3 available, and if that's
              * unavailable don't add anything.
@@ -4530,6 +4535,21 @@ qemuDomainDefAddDefaultDevices(virQEMUDriver *driver,
         }
     }
 
+    if (addIOMMU && !def->iommu &&
+        virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_INTEL_IOMMU) &&
+        virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_INTEL_IOMMU_INTREMAP) &&
+        virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_INTEL_IOMMU_EIM)) {
+        g_autoptr(virDomainIOMMUDef) iommu = NULL;
+
+        iommu = virDomainIOMMUDefNew();
+        iommu->model = VIR_DOMAIN_IOMMU_MODEL_INTEL;
+        /* eim requires intremap. */
+        iommu->intremap = VIR_TRISTATE_SWITCH_ON;
+        iommu->eim = VIR_TRISTATE_SWITCH_ON;
+
+        def->iommu = g_steal_pointer(&iommu);
+    }
+
     if (qemuDomainDefAddDefaultAudioBackend(driver, def) < 0)
         return -1;
 
diff --git a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/intel-iommu-eim-autoadd.xml b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/intel-iommu-eim-autoadd.xml
index 7c294fe2f9..fa3aaf0d44 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/intel-iommu-eim-autoadd.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/intel-iommu-eim-autoadd.xml
@@ -30,6 +30,5 @@
     <audio id='1' type='none'/>
     <watchdog model='itco' action='reset'/>
     <memballoon model='none'/>
-    <iommu model='intel'/>
   </devices>
 </domain>