diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/hardware_ci/run-cpu-test.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/hardware_ci/run-cpu-test.sh
index bbcde4009c0..8db8c3a05fb 100644
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/hardware_ci/run-cpu-test.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/hardware_ci/run-cpu-test.sh
@@ -24,13 +24,22 @@ numactl -C "$CORE_RANGE" -N "$NUMA_NODE" docker build --tag cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE
 numactl -C "$CORE_RANGE" -N "$NUMA_NODE" docker build --build-arg VLLM_CPU_DISABLE_AVX512="true" --tag cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE"-avx2 --target vllm-test -f docker/Dockerfile.cpu .
 
 # Run the image, setting --shm-size=4g for tensor parallel.
-docker run -itd --cpuset-cpus="$CORE_RANGE" --cpuset-mems="$NUMA_NODE" --entrypoint /bin/bash -v ~/.cache/huggingface:/root/.cache/huggingface --privileged=true -e HF_TOKEN --env VLLM_CPU_KVCACHE_SPACE=4 --env VLLM_CPU_OMP_THREADS_BIND="$OMP_CORE_RANGE" --shm-size=4g --name cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE" cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE"
-docker run -itd --cpuset-cpus="$CORE_RANGE" --cpuset-mems="$NUMA_NODE" --entrypoint /bin/bash -v ~/.cache/huggingface:/root/.cache/huggingface --privileged=true -e HF_TOKEN --env VLLM_CPU_KVCACHE_SPACE=4 --env VLLM_CPU_OMP_THREADS_BIND="$OMP_CORE_RANGE" --shm-size=4g --name cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE"-avx2 cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE"-avx2
+docker run -itd --cpuset-cpus="$CORE_RANGE" --cpuset-mems="$NUMA_NODE" --entrypoint /bin/bash -v ~/.cache/huggingface:/root/.cache/huggingface --privileged=true -e HF_TOKEN --env VLLM_CPU_KVCACHE_SPACE=4 --env VLLM_CPU_OMP_THREADS_BIND="$OMP_CORE_RANGE" --env VLLM_CPU_CI_ENV=1 --shm-size=4g --name cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE" cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE"
+docker run -itd --cpuset-cpus="$CORE_RANGE" --cpuset-mems="$NUMA_NODE" --entrypoint /bin/bash -v ~/.cache/huggingface:/root/.cache/huggingface --privileged=true -e HF_TOKEN --env VLLM_CPU_KVCACHE_SPACE=4 --env VLLM_CPU_OMP_THREADS_BIND="$OMP_CORE_RANGE" --env VLLM_CPU_CI_ENV=1 --shm-size=4g --name cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE"-avx2 cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE"-avx2
 
 function cpu_tests() {
   set -e
   export NUMA_NODE=$2
 
+  # list packages
+  docker exec cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE"-avx2 bash -c "
+    set -e
+    pip list"
+
+  docker exec cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE" bash -c "
+    set -e
+    pip list"
+
   # offline inference
   docker exec cpu-test-"$NUMA_NODE"-avx2 bash -c "
     set -e
@@ -72,7 +81,7 @@ function cpu_tests() {
     set -e
     python3 -m vllm.entrypoints.openai.api_server --model facebook/opt-125m --dtype half & 
     timeout 600 bash -c 'until curl localhost:8000/v1/models; do sleep 1; done' || exit 1
-    python3 benchmarks/benchmark_serving.py \
+    VLLM_CPU_CI_ENV=0 python3 benchmarks/benchmark_serving.py \
       --backend vllm \
       --dataset-name random \
       --model facebook/opt-125m \
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile.cpu b/docker/Dockerfile.cpu
index 3e9fa0e7af2..13bd03c5696 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile.cpu
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile.cpu
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ ENV VLLM_CPU_DISABLE_AVX512=${VLLM_CPU_DISABLE_AVX512}
 WORKDIR /workspace/vllm
 
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
-    --mount=type=bind,src=requirements/build.txt,target=requirements/build.txt \
+    --mount=type=bind,src=requirements/cpu-build.txt,target=requirements/build.txt \
     uv pip install -r requirements/build.txt
 
 COPY . .
@@ -79,6 +79,22 @@ RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
     --mount=type=bind,source=.git,target=.git \
     VLLM_TARGET_DEVICE=cpu python3 setup.py bdist_wheel 
 
+######################### TEST DEPS #########################
+FROM base AS vllm-test-deps
+
+WORKDIR /workspace/vllm
+
+RUN --mount=type=bind,src=requirements/test.in,target=requirements/test.in \
+    cp requirements/test.in requirements/cpu-test.in && \
+    sed -i '/mamba_ssm/d' requirements/cpu-test.in && \
+    sed -i 's/torch==.*/torch==2.6.0/g' requirements/cpu-test.in && \
+    sed -i 's/torchaudio.*/torchaudio/g' requirements/cpu-test.in && \
+    sed -i 's/torchvision.*/torchvision/g' requirements/cpu-test.in && \
+    uv pip compile requirements/cpu-test.in -o requirements/cpu-test.txt --index-strategy unsafe-best-match --torch-backend cpu
+
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
+    uv pip install -r requirements/cpu-test.txt 
+
 ######################### DEV IMAGE #########################
 FROM vllm-build AS vllm-dev
 
@@ -97,28 +113,19 @@ RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
     --mount=type=bind,source=.git,target=.git \
     VLLM_TARGET_DEVICE=cpu python3 setup.py develop 
 
+COPY --from=vllm-test-deps /workspace/vllm/requirements/cpu-test.txt requirements/test.txt
+
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
-    --mount=type=bind,src=requirements/test.in,target=requirements/test.in \
-    cp requirements/test.in requirements/test-cpu.in && \
-    sed -i '/mamba_ssm/d' requirements/test-cpu.in && \
-    uv pip compile requirements/test-cpu.in -o requirements/test.txt && \
     uv pip install -r requirements/dev.txt && \
     pre-commit install --hook-type pre-commit --hook-type commit-msg
 
 ENTRYPOINT ["bash"]
 
 ######################### TEST IMAGE #########################
-FROM base AS vllm-test
+FROM vllm-test-deps AS vllm-test
 
 WORKDIR /workspace/
 
-RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
-    --mount=type=bind,src=requirements/test.in,target=requirements/test.in \
-    cp requirements/test.in requirements/test-cpu.in && \
-    sed -i '/mamba_ssm/d' requirements/test-cpu.in && \
-    uv pip compile requirements/test-cpu.in -o requirements/cpu-test.txt && \
-    uv pip install -r requirements/cpu-test.txt
-
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
     --mount=type=bind,from=vllm-build,src=/workspace/vllm/dist,target=dist \
     uv pip install dist/*.whl
diff --git a/requirements/cpu-build.txt b/requirements/cpu-build.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..12f2e86da3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements/cpu-build.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Temporarily used for x86 CPU backend to avoid performance regression of torch>=2.6.0+cpu,
+# see https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/pull/151218
+cmake>=3.26.1
+ninja
+packaging>=24.2
+setuptools>=77.0.3,<80.0.0
+setuptools-scm>=8
+--extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
+torch==2.6.0+cpu
+wheel
+jinja2>=3.1.6
+regex
diff --git a/requirements/cpu.txt b/requirements/cpu.txt
index d7b0fc6d80a..595083e80e6 100644
--- a/requirements/cpu.txt
+++ b/requirements/cpu.txt
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ numba == 0.61.2; python_version > '3.9'
 packaging>=24.2
 setuptools>=77.0.3,<80.0.0
 --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
-torch==2.7.0+cpu; platform_machine == "x86_64"
+torch==2.6.0+cpu; platform_machine == "x86_64" # torch>=2.6.0+cpu has performance regression on x86 platform, see https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/pull/151218
 torch==2.7.0; platform_system == "Darwin"
 torch==2.7.0; platform_machine == "ppc64le" or platform_machine == "aarch64"
 
@@ -26,6 +26,6 @@ triton==3.2.0; platform_machine == "x86_64"
 
 # Intel Extension for PyTorch, only for x86_64 CPUs
 intel-openmp==2024.2.1; platform_machine == "x86_64"
-intel_extension_for_pytorch==2.7.0; platform_machine == "x86_64"
+intel_extension_for_pytorch==2.6.0; platform_machine == "x86_64" # torch>=2.6.0+cpu has performance regression on x86 platform, see https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/pull/151218
 py-libnuma; platform_system != "Darwin"
 psutil; platform_system != "Darwin"
diff --git a/tests/models/multimodal/generation/test_common.py b/tests/models/multimodal/generation/test_common.py
index 496850b19af..e6179619d26 100644
--- a/tests/models/multimodal/generation/test_common.py
+++ b/tests/models/multimodal/generation/test_common.py
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@
             ),
             limit_mm_per_prompt={"image": 4},
         )],
+        dtype="bfloat16" if current_platform.is_cpu() else "auto",
         marks=[pytest.mark.core_model, pytest.mark.cpu_model],
     ),
     "paligemma": VLMTestInfo(
diff --git a/tests/models/multimodal/generation/vlm_utils/builders.py b/tests/models/multimodal/generation/vlm_utils/builders.py
index 7d20dd66089..03c08240d6a 100644
--- a/tests/models/multimodal/generation/vlm_utils/builders.py
+++ b/tests/models/multimodal/generation/vlm_utils/builders.py
@@ -203,6 +203,9 @@ def build_embedding_inputs_from_test_info(
 
     images = [asset.pil_image for asset in image_assets]
     embeds = test_info.convert_assets_to_embeddings(image_assets)
+    if test_info.dtype != "auto":
+        dtype = getattr(torch, test_info.dtype)  # type: ignore
+        embeds = [e.to(dtype=dtype) for e in embeds]
     assert len(images) == len(model_prompts)
 
     inputs = build_single_image_inputs(images, model_prompts, size_wrapper)
diff --git a/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py b/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
index 85b7bbfbd93..f599d7a3bb5 100644
--- a/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
+++ b/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
@@ -1562,14 +1562,20 @@ def _set_default_args_v1(self, usage_context: UsageContext) -> None:
                 UsageContext.LLM_CLASS: 16384,
                 UsageContext.OPENAI_API_SERVER: 8192,
             }
-            default_max_num_seqs = 1024
+            default_max_num_seqs = {
+                UsageContext.LLM_CLASS: 1024,
+                UsageContext.OPENAI_API_SERVER: 1024,
+            }
         else:
             # TODO(woosuk): Tune the default values for other hardware.
             default_max_num_batched_tokens = {
                 UsageContext.LLM_CLASS: 8192,
                 UsageContext.OPENAI_API_SERVER: 2048,
             }
-            default_max_num_seqs = 256
+            default_max_num_seqs = {
+                UsageContext.LLM_CLASS: 256,
+                UsageContext.OPENAI_API_SERVER: 256,
+            }
 
         # tpu specific default values.
         if current_platform.is_tpu():
@@ -1586,6 +1592,17 @@ def _set_default_args_v1(self, usage_context: UsageContext) -> None:
                 }
             }
 
+        # cpu specific default values.
+        if current_platform.is_cpu():
+            default_max_num_batched_tokens = {
+                UsageContext.LLM_CLASS: 4096,
+                UsageContext.OPENAI_API_SERVER: 2048,
+            }
+            default_max_num_seqs = {
+                UsageContext.LLM_CLASS: 128,
+                UsageContext.OPENAI_API_SERVER: 32,
+            }
+
         use_context_value = usage_context.value if usage_context else None
         if (self.max_num_batched_tokens is None
                 and usage_context in default_max_num_batched_tokens):
@@ -1606,8 +1623,9 @@ def _set_default_args_v1(self, usage_context: UsageContext) -> None:
                 "Setting max_num_batched_tokens to %d for %s usage context.",
                 self.max_num_batched_tokens, use_context_value)
 
-        if self.max_num_seqs is None:
-            self.max_num_seqs = default_max_num_seqs
+        if (self.max_num_seqs is None
+                and usage_context in default_max_num_seqs):
+            self.max_num_seqs = default_max_num_seqs[usage_context]
 
             logger.debug("Setting max_num_seqs to %d for %s usage context.",
                          self.max_num_seqs, use_context_value)
diff --git a/vllm/model_executor/layers/fused_moe/__init__.py b/vllm/model_executor/layers/fused_moe/__init__.py
index 2bdc96e297c..c30879add69 100644
--- a/vllm/model_executor/layers/fused_moe/__init__.py
+++ b/vllm/model_executor/layers/fused_moe/__init__.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 from vllm.model_executor.layers.fused_moe.layer import (
     FusedMoE, FusedMoEMethodBase, FusedMoeWeightScaleSupported)
+from vllm.platforms import current_platform
 from vllm.triton_utils import HAS_TRITON
 
 _config: Optional[dict[str, Any]] = None
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ def get_config() -> Optional[dict[str, Any]]:
     "get_config",
 ]
 
-if HAS_TRITON:
+if HAS_TRITON and not current_platform.is_cpu():
     # import to register the custom ops
     import vllm.model_executor.layers.fused_moe.fused_marlin_moe  # noqa
     import vllm.model_executor.layers.fused_moe.fused_moe  # noqa
diff --git a/vllm/model_executor/layers/fused_moe/layer.py b/vllm/model_executor/layers/fused_moe/layer.py
index cf8e4ee6509..729f9391554 100644
--- a/vllm/model_executor/layers/fused_moe/layer.py
+++ b/vllm/model_executor/layers/fused_moe/layer.py
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@
 if is_rocm_aiter_moe_enabled():
     from vllm.model_executor.layers.fused_moe.rocm_aiter_fused_moe import (  # noqa: E501
         rocm_aiter_grouped_topk as grouped_topk)
+elif current_platform.is_cpu():
+    pass
 else:
     from vllm.model_executor.layers.fused_moe.fused_moe import grouped_topk
 if current_platform.is_tpu():
diff --git a/vllm/model_executor/layers/quantization/ipex_quant.py b/vllm/model_executor/layers/quantization/ipex_quant.py
index 31ad96eccaf..8ceab149bd5 100644
--- a/vllm/model_executor/layers/quantization/ipex_quant.py
+++ b/vllm/model_executor/layers/quantization/ipex_quant.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 from vllm.model_executor.layers.quantization.gptq import GPTQLinearMethod
 from vllm.platforms import current_platform
 
-MIN_IPEX_VERSION = "2.7.0"
+MIN_IPEX_VERSION = "2.4.0"
 
 
 class IPEXConfig(QuantizationConfig):
diff --git a/vllm/platforms/cpu.py b/vllm/platforms/cpu.py
index 27c591e3bab..2d10d700fa2 100644
--- a/vllm/platforms/cpu.py
+++ b/vllm/platforms/cpu.py
@@ -89,10 +89,6 @@ def check_and_update_config(cls, vllm_config: VllmConfig) -> None:
         import vllm.envs as envs
         from vllm.utils import GiB_bytes
         model_config = vllm_config.model_config
-        # Reminder: Please update docs/features/compatibility_matrix.md
-        # If the feature combo become valid
-        if not model_config.enforce_eager:
-            model_config.enforce_eager = True
 
         model_config.disable_cascade_attn = True
 
@@ -171,9 +167,21 @@ def check_and_update_config(cls, vllm_config: VllmConfig) -> None:
         compilation_config = vllm_config.compilation_config
         if (envs.VLLM_USE_V1 and vllm_config.compilation_config.level
                 == CompilationLevel.PIECEWISE):
+
+            # Note: vLLM V1 is using PIECEWISE level compilation, which will
+            # take time to compile kernels just-in-time with the inductor
+            # backend. For CPU CI tests, most of them are executed fast and
+            # compilations consume too much time, even with torch compile
+            # cache. So use VLLM_CPU_CI_ENV to indicate the CI environment,
+            # and just execute model with dynamo + eager mode to save time.
+            # VLLM_CPU_CI_ENV is only used as an internal variable.
+            if os.environ.get("VLLM_CPU_CI_ENV", "0") != "0":
+                backend = "eager"
+            else:
+                backend = "inductor"
+
             compilation_config.level = CompilationLevel.DYNAMO_ONCE
-            compilation_config.backend = "eager"
-            compilation_config.custom_ops += ["none"]
+            compilation_config.backend = backend
             compilation_config.inductor_compile_config.update({
                 "dce":
                 True,
diff --git a/vllm/v1/worker/cpu_model_runner.py b/vllm/v1/worker/cpu_model_runner.py
index 607cfc0ef69..6631c9636ea 100644
--- a/vllm/v1/worker/cpu_model_runner.py
+++ b/vllm/v1/worker/cpu_model_runner.py
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ def load_model(self) -> None:
     def warming_up_model(self) -> None:
         logger.info("Warming up model for the compilation...")
         # Only generate graph for the generic shape
-        self._dummy_run(max(16, self.max_num_reqs))
+        with _set_global_compilation_settings(self.vllm_config):
+            self._dummy_run(max(16, self.max_num_reqs))
         logger.info("Warming up done.")
 
     def _init_device_properties(self) -> None:
@@ -71,16 +72,15 @@ def _sync_device(self) -> None:
 
 
 @contextmanager
-def _set_global_compilation_settings():
+def _set_global_compilation_settings(config: VllmConfig):
     import torch._inductor.config
 
-    # Note: The CPPGEMM backend requires freezing parameters.
-    freezing_value = torch._inductor.config.freezing
-    torch._inductor.config.freezing = True
-    # Note: workaround for "ValueError: fast mode: can't pickle cyclic objects
-    # including object type dict"
-    force_disable_caches = torch._inductor.config.force_disable_caches
-    torch._inductor.config.force_disable_caches = True
-    yield
-    torch._inductor.config.freezing = freezing_value
-    torch._inductor.config.force_disable_caches = force_disable_caches
+    inductor_config = config.compilation_config.inductor_compile_config
+    try:
+        # Note: The MKLDNN and CPPGEMM backend requires freezing parameters.
+        freezing_value = torch._inductor.config.freezing
+        if inductor_config.get("max_autotune", False):
+            torch._inductor.config.freezing = True
+        yield
+    finally:
+        torch._inductor.config.freezing = freezing_value