diff --git a/include/qom/cpu.h b/include/qom/cpu.h
index 995a7beeb5..885276c0cf 100644
--- a/include/qom/cpu.h
+++ b/include/qom/cpu.h
@@ -644,6 +644,27 @@ void cpu_reset(CPUState *cpu);
  */
 ObjectClass *cpu_class_by_name(const char *typename, const char *cpu_model);
 
+/**
+ * cpu_create:
+ * @typename: The CPU type.
+ *
+ * Instantiates a CPU and realizes the CPU.
+ *
+ * Returns: A #CPUState or %NULL if an error occurred.
+ */
+CPUState *cpu_create(const char *typename);
+
+/**
+ * cpu_parse_cpu_model:
+ * @typename: The CPU base type or CPU type.
+ * @cpu_model: The model string including optional parameters.
+ *
+ * processes optional parameters and registers them as global properties
+ *
+ * Returns: type of CPU to create or %NULL if an error occurred.
+ */
+const char *cpu_parse_cpu_model(const char *typename, const char *cpu_model);
+
 /**
  * cpu_generic_init:
  * @typename: The CPU base type.
diff --git a/qom/cpu.c b/qom/cpu.c
index dc5392dbeb..483f26a5fb 100644
--- a/qom/cpu.c
+++ b/qom/cpu.c
@@ -54,13 +54,26 @@ bool cpu_exists(int64_t id)
     return !!cpu_by_arch_id(id);
 }
 
-CPUState *cpu_generic_init(const char *typename, const char *cpu_model)
+CPUState *cpu_create(const char *typename)
+{
+    Error *err = NULL;
+    CPUState *cpu = CPU(object_new(typename));
+    object_property_set_bool(OBJECT(cpu), true, "realized", &err);
+    if (err != NULL) {
+        error_report_err(err);
+        object_unref(OBJECT(cpu));
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    return cpu;
+}
+
+const char *cpu_parse_cpu_model(const char *typename, const char *cpu_model)
 {
-    CPUState *cpu = NULL;
     ObjectClass *oc;
     CPUClass *cc;
     Error *err = NULL;
     gchar **model_pieces;
+    const char *cpu_type;
 
     model_pieces = g_strsplit(cpu_model, ",", 2);
 
@@ -70,27 +83,28 @@ CPUState *cpu_generic_init(const char *typename, const char *cpu_model)
         return NULL;
     }
 
+    cpu_type = object_class_get_name(oc);
     cc = CPU_CLASS(oc);
-    /* TODO: all callers of cpu_generic_init() need to be converted to
-     * call parse_features() only once, before calling cpu_generic_init().
-     */
-    cc->parse_features(object_class_get_name(oc), model_pieces[1], &err);
+    cc->parse_features(cpu_type, model_pieces[1], &err);
     g_strfreev(model_pieces);
-    if (err != NULL) {
-        goto out;
-    }
-
-    cpu = CPU(object_new(object_class_get_name(oc)));
-    object_property_set_bool(OBJECT(cpu), true, "realized", &err);
-
-out:
     if (err != NULL) {
         error_report_err(err);
-        object_unref(OBJECT(cpu));
         return NULL;
     }
+    return cpu_type;
+}
 
-    return cpu;
+CPUState *cpu_generic_init(const char *typename, const char *cpu_model)
+{
+    /* TODO: all callers of cpu_generic_init() need to be converted to
+     * call cpu_parse_features() only once, before calling cpu_generic_init().
+     */
+    const char *cpu_type = cpu_parse_cpu_model(typename, cpu_model);
+
+    if (cpu_type) {
+        return cpu_create(cpu_type);
+    }
+    return NULL;
 }
 
 bool cpu_paging_enabled(const CPUState *cpu)