diff --git a/deployment/nova/nova-compute-container-puppet.yaml b/deployment/nova/nova-compute-container-puppet.yaml
index ecff816522..36820bcfd3 100644
--- a/deployment/nova/nova-compute-container-puppet.yaml
+++ b/deployment/nova/nova-compute-container-puppet.yaml
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ parameters:
     description: >
       The libvirt CPU mode to configure. Defaults to 'host-model' if virt_type is
       set to kvm, otherwise defaults to 'none'
-    default: 'none'
+    default: 'host-model'
     constraints:
       - allowed_values:
         - custom
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/nova_compute_default_cpu_mode-cda2bb3e56463b3a.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/nova_compute_default_cpu_mode-cda2bb3e56463b3a.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6415452955
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/nova_compute_default_cpu_mode-cda2bb3e56463b3a.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    https://review.opendev.org/q/I8df21d5d171976cbb8670dc5aef744b5fae657b2
+    introduced THT parameters to set libvirt/cpu_mode. The patch sets the
+    NovaLibvirtCPUMode wrong to 'none' string which results in puppet-nova
+    not to handle the default cases correct and sets libvirt/cpu_mode to
+    none which results in 'qemu64' CPU model, which is highly buggy and
+    undesirable for production usage.  This changes the default to the
+    recommended CPU mode 'host-model', for various benefits documented
+    elsewhere.