diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c b/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c
index 16badb1f4b..f3d43ceb1e 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c
@@ -37,12 +37,118 @@ static bool spapr_numa_is_symmetrical(MachineState *ms)
     return true;
 }
 
+/*
+ * This function will translate the user distances into
+ * what the kernel understand as possible values: 10
+ * (local distance), 20, 40, 80 and 160, and return the equivalent
+ * NUMA level for each. Current heuristic is:
+ *  - local distance (10) returns numa_level = 0x4
+ *  - distances between 11 and 30 inclusive -> rounded to 20,
+ *    numa_level = 0x3
+ *  - distances between 31 and 60 inclusive -> rounded to 40,
+ *    numa_level = 0x2
+ *  - distances between 61 and 120 inclusive -> rounded to 80,
+ *    numa_level = 0x1
+ *  - everything above 120 returns numa_level = 0 to indicate that
+ *    there is no match. This will be calculated as disntace = 160
+ *    by the kernel (as of v5.9)
+ */
+static uint8_t spapr_numa_get_numa_level(uint8_t distance)
+{
+    uint8_t rounded_distance = 160;
+    uint8_t numa_level;
+
+    if (distance > 11 && distance <= 30) {
+        rounded_distance = 20;
+    } else if (distance > 31 && distance <= 60) {
+        rounded_distance = 40;
+    } else if (distance > 61 && distance <= 120) {
+        rounded_distance = 80;
+    }
+
+    switch (rounded_distance) {
+    case 10:
+        numa_level = 0x4;
+        break;
+    case 20:
+        numa_level = 0x3;
+        break;
+    case 40:
+        numa_level = 0x2;
+        break;
+    case 80:
+        numa_level = 0x1;
+        break;
+    default:
+        numa_level = 0;
+    }
+
+    return numa_level;
+}
+
+static void spapr_numa_define_associativity_domains(SpaprMachineState *spapr)
+{
+    MachineState *ms = MACHINE(spapr);
+    NodeInfo *numa_info = ms->numa_state->nodes;
+    int nb_numa_nodes = ms->numa_state->num_nodes;
+    int src, dst;
+
+    for (src = 0; src < nb_numa_nodes; src++) {
+        for (dst = src; dst < nb_numa_nodes; dst++) {
+            /*
+             * This is how the associativity domain between A and B
+             * is calculated:
+             *
+             * - get the distance between them
+             * - get the correspondent NUMA level for this distance
+             * - the arrays were initialized with their own numa_ids,
+             * and we're calculating the distance in node_id ascending order,
+             * starting from node 0. This will have a cascade effect in the
+             * algorithm because the associativity domains that node 0 defines
+             * will be carried over to the other nodes, and node 1
+             * associativities will be carried over unless there's already a
+             * node 0 associativity assigned, and so on. This happens because
+             * we'll assign assoc_src as the associativity domain of dst
+             * as well, for the given NUMA level.
+             *
+             * The PPC kernel expects the associativity domains of node 0 to
+             * be always 0, and this algorithm will grant that by default.
+             */
+            uint8_t distance = numa_info[src].distance[dst];
+            uint8_t n_level = spapr_numa_get_numa_level(distance);
+            uint32_t assoc_src;
+
+            /*
+             * n_level = 0 means that the distance is greater than our last
+             * rounded value (120). In this case there is no NUMA level match
+             * between src and dst and we can skip the remaining of the loop.
+             *
+             * The Linux kernel will assume that the distance between src and
+             * dst, in this case of no match, is 10 (local distance) doubled
+             * for each NUMA it didn't match. We have MAX_DISTANCE_REF_POINTS
+             * levels (4), so this gives us 10*2*2*2*2 = 160.
+             *
+             * This logic can be seen in the Linux kernel source code, as of
+             * v5.9, in arch/powerpc/mm/numa.c, function __node_distance().
+             */
+            if (n_level == 0) {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            assoc_src = spapr->numa_assoc_array[src][n_level];
+            spapr->numa_assoc_array[dst][n_level] = assoc_src;
+        }
+    }
+
+}
+
 void spapr_numa_associativity_init(SpaprMachineState *spapr,
                                    MachineState *machine)
 {
     SpaprMachineClass *smc = SPAPR_MACHINE_GET_CLASS(spapr);
     int nb_numa_nodes = machine->numa_state->num_nodes;
     int i, j, max_nodes_with_gpus;
+    bool using_legacy_numa = spapr_machine_using_legacy_numa(spapr);
 
     /*
      * For all associativity arrays: first position is the size,
@@ -56,6 +162,17 @@ void spapr_numa_associativity_init(SpaprMachineState *spapr,
     for (i = 0; i < nb_numa_nodes; i++) {
         spapr->numa_assoc_array[i][0] = cpu_to_be32(MAX_DISTANCE_REF_POINTS);
         spapr->numa_assoc_array[i][MAX_DISTANCE_REF_POINTS] = cpu_to_be32(i);
+
+        /*
+         * Fill all associativity domains of non-zero NUMA nodes with
+         * node_id. This is required because the default value (0) is
+         * considered a match with associativity domains of node 0.
+         */
+        if (!using_legacy_numa && i != 0) {
+            for (j = 1; j < MAX_DISTANCE_REF_POINTS; j++) {
+                spapr->numa_assoc_array[i][j] = cpu_to_be32(i);
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     /*
@@ -85,7 +202,7 @@ void spapr_numa_associativity_init(SpaprMachineState *spapr,
      * 1 NUMA node) will not benefit from anything we're going to do
      * after this point.
      */
-    if (spapr_machine_using_legacy_numa(spapr)) {
+    if (using_legacy_numa) {
         return;
     }
 
@@ -95,6 +212,7 @@ void spapr_numa_associativity_init(SpaprMachineState *spapr,
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
 
+    spapr_numa_define_associativity_domains(spapr);
 }
 
 void spapr_numa_write_associativity_dt(SpaprMachineState *spapr, void *fdt,
