diff --git a/hw/core/machine-qmp-cmds.c b/hw/core/machine-qmp-cmds.c
index 15cf7c62e3..eed5aeb2f7 100644
--- a/hw/core/machine-qmp-cmds.c
+++ b/hw/core/machine-qmp-cmds.c
@@ -230,6 +230,10 @@ MachineInfoList *qmp_query_machines(Error **errp)
         info->hotpluggable_cpus = mc->has_hotpluggable_cpus;
         info->numa_mem_supported = mc->numa_mem_supported;
         info->deprecated = !!mc->deprecation_reason;
+        if (mc->default_cpu_type) {
+            info->default_cpu_type = g_strdup(mc->default_cpu_type);
+            info->has_default_cpu_type = true;
+        }
 
         entry = g_malloc0(sizeof(*entry));
         entry->value = info;
diff --git a/qapi/machine.json b/qapi/machine.json
index de5c742d72..ca26779f1a 100644
--- a/qapi/machine.json
+++ b/qapi/machine.json
@@ -348,13 +348,16 @@
 #              in future versions of QEMU according to the QEMU deprecation
 #              policy (since 4.1.0)
 #
+# @default-cpu-type: default CPU model typename if none is requested via
+#                    the -cpu argument. (since 4.2)
+#
 # Since: 1.2.0
 ##
 { 'struct': 'MachineInfo',
   'data': { 'name': 'str', '*alias': 'str',
             '*is-default': 'bool', 'cpu-max': 'int',
             'hotpluggable-cpus': 'bool',  'numa-mem-supported': 'bool',
-            'deprecated': 'bool' } }
+            'deprecated': 'bool', '*default-cpu-type': 'str' } }
 
 ##
 # @query-machines: