From KVM

Information about what cpu supports Hardware virtualization.

Contents 1 INTEL: 2 AMD: 3 PowerPC: 4 S390:

INTEL:

VT-x, shows in /proc/cpuinfo as the vmx flag.

AKA Vanderpool

See Wikipedia's article on x86 virtualization, for a list of processors that include it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#Intel_Virtualization_Technology_for_x86_.28Intel_VT-x.29

AMD:

AMD-V, shows in /proc/cpuinfo as the svm flag.

AKA Pacifica

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#AMD_virtualization_.28AMD-V.29

PowerPC:

KVM for PowerPC supports selected embedded cores. It also supports all 64-bit server / desktop class CPUs like the G5, POWER4 and above, Cell, 970MP, etc.

BookE 440	YES
BookE 500	YES
Book3S PPC64	YES
Book3S PPC32	NO

S390:

Every S390 that has 64-bit support can use KVM. So if your mainframe is at least a z9, you're good!