diff --git a/Gopkg.lock b/Gopkg.lock
index d111131745..a2ef67389c 100644
--- a/Gopkg.lock
+++ b/Gopkg.lock
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@
 [[projects]]
   name = "github.com/intel/govmm"
   packages = ["qemu"]
-  revision = "82c67ab9b21e8cd0042b6c2d3be2d3705a511603"
+  revision = "1509acf1862ae5154c5c096f9318bd3eb434d816"
 
 [[projects]]
   name = "github.com/kata-containers/agent"
@@ -250,6 +250,6 @@
 [solve-meta]
   analyzer-name = "dep"
   analyzer-version = 1
-  inputs-digest = "bb2ac1696f8e90526e492a6d54362549094fa844c17fbd06c727198bff6667ef"
+  inputs-digest = "f7c3a1b7f5cb5f891a3badcb7323f3b5fc0fa79f69dd6532ec2e2be2baafaf98"
   solver-name = "gps-cdcl"
   solver-version = 1
diff --git a/Gopkg.toml b/Gopkg.toml
index 81c3705509..67f31bead2 100644
--- a/Gopkg.toml
+++ b/Gopkg.toml
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
 
 [[constraint]]
   name = "github.com/intel/govmm"
-  revision = "82c67ab9b21e8cd0042b6c2d3be2d3705a511603"
+  revision = "1509acf1862ae5154c5c096f9318bd3eb434d816"
 
 [[constraint]]
   name = "github.com/kata-containers/agent"
diff --git a/vendor/github.com/intel/govmm/qemu/qemu.go b/vendor/github.com/intel/govmm/qemu/qemu.go
index 89d053fe95..4b0e41795a 100644
--- a/vendor/github.com/intel/govmm/qemu/qemu.go
+++ b/vendor/github.com/intel/govmm/qemu/qemu.go
@@ -841,6 +841,9 @@ type SCSIController struct {
 
 	// DisableModern prevents qemu from relying on fast MMIO.
 	DisableModern bool
+
+	// IOThread is the IO thread on which IO will be handled
+	IOThread string
 }
 
 // Valid returns true if the SCSIController structure is valid and complete.
@@ -867,6 +870,9 @@ func (scsiCon SCSIController) QemuParams(config *Config) []string {
 	if scsiCon.DisableModern {
 		devParams = append(devParams, fmt.Sprintf("disable-modern=true"))
 	}
+	if scsiCon.IOThread != "" {
+		devParams = append(devParams, fmt.Sprintf("iothread=%s", scsiCon.IOThread))
+	}
 
 	qemuParams = append(qemuParams, "-device")
 	qemuParams = append(qemuParams, strings.Join(devParams, ","))
@@ -1159,6 +1165,11 @@ type Knobs struct {
 	Realtime bool
 }
 
+// IOThread allows IO to be performed on a separate thread.
+type IOThread struct {
+	ID string
+}
+
 // Config is the qemu configuration structure.
 // It allows for passing custom settings and parameters to the qemu API.
 type Config struct {
@@ -1213,6 +1224,8 @@ type Config struct {
 	// fds is a list of open file descriptors to be passed to the spawned qemu process
 	fds []*os.File
 
+	IOThreads []IOThread
+
 	qemuParams []string
 }
 
@@ -1481,6 +1494,15 @@ func (config *Config) appendBios() {
 	}
 }
 
+func (config *Config) appendIOThreads() {
+	for _, t := range config.IOThreads {
+		if t.ID != "" {
+			config.qemuParams = append(config.qemuParams, "-object")
+			config.qemuParams = append(config.qemuParams, fmt.Sprintf("iothread,id=%s", t.ID))
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // LaunchQemu can be used to launch a new qemu instance.
 //
 // The Config parameter contains a set of qemu parameters and settings.
@@ -1504,6 +1526,7 @@ func LaunchQemu(config Config, logger QMPLog) (string, error) {
 	config.appendKnobs()
 	config.appendKernel()
 	config.appendBios()
+	config.appendIOThreads()
 
 	if err := config.appendCPUs(); err != nil {
 		return "", err