diff --git a/cpuset/numcpu.go b/cpuset/numcpu.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..40e7bd3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cpuset/numcpu.go
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2026 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package cpuset
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// onlineCPUsPath is the sysfs file listing the host's online CPUs. It is a
+// variable so tests can point it at a fixture.
+var onlineCPUsPath = "/sys/devices/system/cpu/online"
+
+// NumCPU returns the number of CPUs that are online on the host, read from
+// /sys/devices/system/cpu/online. The file holds a cpu list such as "0-3,8-11";
+// see https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/cputopology.html for the format.
+//
+// Unlike runtime.NumCPU, the result is not affected by the calling process's
+// CPU affinity (its cgroup cpuset), so it reflects the whole machine. This is
+// what you want when sizing a host-wide resource by CPU count.
+//
+// NumCPU returns an error if the online file cannot be read or parsed, for
+// example on non-Linux platforms. Callers that need a value regardless should
+// fall back to runtime.NumCPU.
+func NumCPU() (int, error) {
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(onlineCPUsPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	set, err := Parse(strings.TrimSpace(string(data)))
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("parsing %q: %w", onlineCPUsPath, err)
+	}
+	return set.Size(), nil
+}
diff --git a/cpuset/numcpu_test.go b/cpuset/numcpu_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6f4df0f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cpuset/numcpu_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2026 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package cpuset
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestNumCPU(t *testing.T) {
+	orig := onlineCPUsPath
+	t.Cleanup(func() { onlineCPUsPath = orig })
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name    string
+		content string
+		want    int
+		wantErr bool
+	}{
+		{name: "single", content: "0\n", want: 1},
+		{name: "range", content: "0-3\n", want: 4},
+		{name: "list and ranges", content: "0-1,4-7\n", want: 6},
+		{name: "no trailing newline", content: "0-15", want: 16},
+		{name: "malformed", content: "nope\n", wantErr: true},
+	}
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			path := filepath.Join(dir, tc.name)
+			if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte(tc.content), 0o600); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			onlineCPUsPath = path
+			got, err := NumCPU()
+			if tc.wantErr {
+				if err == nil {
+					t.Fatalf("NumCPU() = %d, want error", got)
+				}
+				return
+			}
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("NumCPU() unexpected error: %v", err)
+			}
+			if got != tc.want {
+				t.Errorf("NumCPU() = %d, want %d", got, tc.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+
+	t.Run("missing file", func(t *testing.T) {
+		onlineCPUsPath = filepath.Join(dir, "absent")
+		if _, err := NumCPU(); err == nil {
+			t.Error("NumCPU() with missing file: want error, got nil")
+		}
+	})
+}