diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 37a553dd64..c04b71e0a7 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -228,6 +228,9 @@ ELSEIF(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Windows" AND CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM STREQUA
 ELSEIF(CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR STREQUAL "aarch64" OR CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR STREQUAL "ARM64")
   MESSAGE(STATUS "Building for AArch64")
   SET(EMBREE_ARM ON)
+ELSEIF(CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR MATCHES "^(powerpc|ppc)64")
+  MESSAGE(STATUS "Building for PowerPC64")
+  SET(EMBREE_PPC64 ON)
 ENDIF()
 
 SET(EMBREE_TASKING_SYSTEM "TBB" CACHE STRING "Selects tasking system")
@@ -388,6 +391,13 @@ IF (EMBREE_MAX_ISA STREQUAL "NONE")
     TRY_COMPILE(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_AVX2    "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}" "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/common/cmake/check_isa.cpp" COMPILE_DEFINITIONS ${FLAGS_AVX2})
     TRY_COMPILE(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_AVX512  "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}" "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/common/cmake/check_isa.cpp" COMPILE_DEFINITIONS ${FLAGS_AVX512})
     TRY_COMPILE(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_APX     "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}" "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/common/cmake/check_isa.cpp" COMPILE_DEFINITIONS ${FLAGS_APX})
+    IF (EMBREE_PPC64)
+      # the probes pass trivially without any x86 flags
+      SET(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_AVX OFF)
+      SET(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_AVX2 OFF)
+      SET(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_AVX512 OFF)
+      SET(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_APX OFF)
+    ENDIF ()
   
     OPTION(EMBREE_ISA_SSE2 "Enables SSE2 ISA." ON)
     OPTION(EMBREE_ISA_SSE42 "Enables SSE4.2 ISA." ON)
@@ -563,6 +573,10 @@ IF (EMBREE_ARM)
   ENDIF()
 ENDIF()
 
+IF (EMBREE_PPC64)
+  LIST(APPEND ISPC_TARGETS "vsx-i32x4")
+ENDIF()
+
 IF (EMBREE_ISA_NEON)
   SET(EMBREE_ISA_SSE2 ON)
 ENDIF()
@@ -576,7 +590,7 @@ ENDIF()
 
 IF (EMBREE_ISA_SSE2)
   ADD_DEFINITIONS(-DEMBREE_TARGET_SSE2)
-  IF (NOT EMBREE_ARM)
+  IF (NOT EMBREE_ARM AND NOT EMBREE_PPC64)
     LIST(APPEND ISPC_TARGETS "sse2")
   ENDIF()
   IF(NOT FLAGS_LOWEST)
@@ -587,7 +601,7 @@ ENDIF()
 
 IF (EMBREE_ISA_SSE42)
   ADD_DEFINITIONS(-DEMBREE_TARGET_SSE42)
-  IF (NOT EMBREE_ARM)
+  IF (NOT EMBREE_ARM AND NOT EMBREE_PPC64)
     LIST(APPEND ISPC_TARGETS "sse4")
   ENDIF()
   IF(NOT FLAGS_LOWEST)
diff --git a/common/cmake/clang.cmake b/common/cmake/clang.cmake
index ecb5f399db..1ba7ec1faf 100644
--- a/common/cmake/clang.cmake
+++ b/common/cmake/clang.cmake
@@ -21,6 +21,14 @@ IF (EMBREE_ARM)
     SET(FLAGS_AVX "-D__AVX__ -D__SSE4_2__  -D__SSE4_1__  -D__BMI__ -D__BMI2__ -D__LZCNT__")
     SET(FLAGS_AVX2 "-D__AVX2__ -D__AVX__ -D__SSE4_2__  -D__SSE4_1__  -D__BMI__ -D__BMI2__ -D__LZCNT__")
   ENDIF ()
+ELSEIF (EMBREE_PPC64)
+  # the x86 intrinsic wrappers need POWER8, honor a newer -mcpu from the user
+  STRING(REGEX MATCH "-mcpu=[^ ]+" FLAGS_PPC64_CPU "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}")
+  IF (NOT FLAGS_PPC64_CPU)
+    SET(FLAGS_PPC64_CPU "-mcpu=power8")
+  ENDIF ()
+  SET(FLAGS_SSE2 "-D__SSE__ -D__SSE2__ ${FLAGS_PPC64_CPU}")
+  SET(FLAGS_SSE42 "-D__SSE4_2__  -D__SSE4_1__ ${FLAGS_PPC64_CPU}")
 ELSE ()
   # for `thread` keyword
   _SET_IF_EMPTY(FLAGS_SSE2  "-msse -msse2 -mno-sse4.2")
diff --git a/common/cmake/ispc.cmake b/common/cmake/ispc.cmake
index 7a4abaeb85..957dd66de9 100644
--- a/common/cmake/ispc.cmake
+++ b/common/cmake/ispc.cmake
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ MACRO (ISPC_COMPILE)
   IF (CMAKE_SIZEOF_VOID_P EQUAL 8)
     IF (${CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR} MATCHES "arm64|aarch64")
       SET(ISPC_ARCHITECTURE "aarch64")
+    ELSEIF (${CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR} MATCHES "^(powerpc|ppc)64le")
+      SET(ISPC_ARCHITECTURE "ppc64le")
     ELSE()
       SET(ISPC_ARCHITECTURE "x86-64")
     ENDIF()
diff --git a/common/sys/intrinsics.h b/common/sys/intrinsics.h
index fb6610605d..6b58e5ecc3 100644
--- a/common/sys/intrinsics.h
+++ b/common/sys/intrinsics.h
@@ -13,6 +13,39 @@
 #include "../simd/arm/emulation.h"
 #else
 #include <immintrin.h>
+#if defined(__powerpc64__) && defined(__clang__)
+__forceinline unsigned int _mm_getcsr() { return 0; }
+__forceinline void _mm_setcsr(unsigned int) {}
+__forceinline int _mm_popcnt_u32(unsigned int v) { return __builtin_popcount(v); }
+__forceinline long long _mm_popcnt_u64(unsigned long long v) { return __builtin_popcountll(v); }
+__forceinline __m128i _mm_stream_load_si128(__m128i* p) { return _mm_load_si128(p); }
+__forceinline __m128 _mm_dp_ps(__m128 a, __m128 b, const int imm) {
+  const __m128i hi = _mm_set_epi32((imm & 0x80) ? -1 : 0, (imm & 0x40) ? -1 : 0, (imm & 0x20) ? -1 : 0, (imm & 0x10) ? -1 : 0);
+  const __m128i lo = _mm_set_epi32((imm & 0x08) ? -1 : 0, (imm & 0x04) ? -1 : 0, (imm & 0x02) ? -1 : 0, (imm & 0x01) ? -1 : 0);
+  __m128 p = _mm_and_ps(_mm_mul_ps(a, b), _mm_castsi128_ps(hi));
+  p = _mm_hadd_ps(p, p);
+  p = _mm_hadd_ps(p, p);
+  return _mm_and_ps(p, _mm_castsi128_ps(lo));
+}
+__forceinline __m128 _mm_insert_ps(__m128 a, __m128 b, const int imm) {
+  float ta[4], tb[4];
+  _mm_storeu_ps(ta, a);
+  _mm_storeu_ps(tb, b);
+  ta[(imm >> 4) & 3] = tb[(imm >> 6) & 3];
+  for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) if (imm & (1 << i)) ta[i] = 0.0f;
+  return _mm_loadu_ps(ta);
+}
+#define _MM_MASK_DENORM 0x0100
+#define _MM_MASK_DIV_ZERO 0x0200
+#define _MM_MASK_MASK 0x1f80
+#define _MM_FLUSH_ZERO_MASK 0x8000
+#define _MM_FLUSH_ZERO_ON 0x8000
+#define _MM_DENORMALS_ZERO_ON 0x0040
+#define _MM_DENORMALS_ZERO_OFF 0x0000
+#define _MM_DENORMALS_ZERO_MASK 0x0040
+#define _MM_SET_EXCEPTION_MASK(x) _mm_setcsr((_mm_getcsr() & ~_MM_MASK_MASK) | (x))
+#define _MM_SET_FLUSH_ZERO_MODE(x) _mm_setcsr((_mm_getcsr() & ~_MM_FLUSH_ZERO_MASK) | (x))
+#endif
 #if defined(__EMSCRIPTEN__)
 #include "../simd/wasm/emulation.h"
 #endif
diff --git a/common/sys/platform.h b/common/sys/platform.h
index 73bb412aa8..776a3b8277 100644
--- a/common/sys/platform.h
+++ b/common/sys/platform.h
@@ -57,12 +57,18 @@
 #define __X86_ASM__
 #endif
 
+#if defined(__powerpc64__)
+#define NO_WARN_X86_INTRINSICS
+#define __SSE__
+#define __SSE2__
+#endif
+
 /* detect 64 bit platform */
 #if defined(__aarch64__) || defined(_M_ARM64)
 #define EMBREE_ARM64
 #endif
 
-#if defined(__X86_64__) || defined(EMBREE_ARM64)
+#if defined(__X86_64__) || defined(EMBREE_ARM64) || defined(__powerpc64__)
 #define __64BIT__
 #endif
 
diff --git a/common/sys/sysinfo.cpp b/common/sys/sysinfo.cpp
index 81e6cd23d8..843d9f1e1a 100644
--- a/common/sys/sysinfo.cpp
+++ b/common/sys/sysinfo.cpp
@@ -429,6 +429,13 @@ namespace embree
 #endif
     return cpu_features;
 
+#elif defined(__powerpc64__)
+
+    int cpu_features = CPU_FEATURE_SSE|CPU_FEATURE_SSE2|CPU_FEATURE_SSE3|CPU_FEATURE_SSSE3;
+    cpu_features |= CPU_FEATURE_SSE41|CPU_FEATURE_SSE42|CPU_FEATURE_POPCNT;
+    cpu_features |= CPU_FEATURE_XMM_ENABLED;
+    return cpu_features;
+
 #elif defined(__ARM_NEON) || defined(EMBREE_ARM64) || defined(__EMSCRIPTEN__)
 
     int cpu_features = CPU_FEATURE_NEON|CPU_FEATURE_SSE|CPU_FEATURE_SSE2;