diff --git a/envconfig/config.go b/envconfig/config.go
index bcf2e18a..e86f72e6 100644
--- a/envconfig/config.go
+++ b/envconfig/config.go
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ var (
 	SchedSpread bool
 	// Set via OLLAMA_TMPDIR in the environment
 	TmpDir string
+	// Set via OLLAMA_INTEL_GPU in the environment
+	IntelGpu bool
 
 	// Set via CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES in the environment
 	CudaVisibleDevices string
@@ -101,6 +103,7 @@ func AsMap() map[string]EnvVar {
 		ret["ROCR_VISIBLE_DEVICES"] = EnvVar{"ROCR_VISIBLE_DEVICES", RocrVisibleDevices, "Set which AMD devices are visible"}
 		ret["GPU_DEVICE_ORDINAL"] = EnvVar{"GPU_DEVICE_ORDINAL", GpuDeviceOrdinal, "Set which AMD devices are visible"}
 		ret["HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION"] = EnvVar{"HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION", HsaOverrideGfxVersion, "Override the gfx used for all detected AMD GPUs"}
+		ret["OLLAMA_INTEL_GPU"] = EnvVar{"OLLAMA_INTEL_GPU", IntelGpu, "Enable experimental Intel GPU detection"}
 	}
 	return ret
 }
@@ -276,6 +279,10 @@ func LoadConfig() {
 		slog.Error("invalid setting", "OLLAMA_HOST", Host, "error", err, "using default port", Host.Port)
 	}
 
+	if set, err := strconv.ParseBool(clean("OLLAMA_INTEL_GPU")); err == nil {
+		IntelGpu = set
+	}
+
 	CudaVisibleDevices = clean("CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES")
 	HipVisibleDevices = clean("HIP_VISIBLE_DEVICES")
 	RocrVisibleDevices = clean("ROCR_VISIBLE_DEVICES")
diff --git a/gpu/gpu.go b/gpu/gpu.go
index 56a4dbfa..ce0a1049 100644
--- a/gpu/gpu.go
+++ b/gpu/gpu.go
@@ -280,33 +280,35 @@ func GetGPUInfo() GpuInfoList {
 		}
 
 		// Intel
-		oHandles = initOneAPIHandles()
-		for d := 0; oHandles.oneapi != nil && d < int(oHandles.oneapi.num_drivers); d++ {
-			if oHandles.oneapi == nil {
-				// shouldn't happen
-				slog.Warn("nil oneapi handle with driver count", "count", int(oHandles.oneapi.num_drivers))
-				continue
-			}
-			devCount := C.oneapi_get_device_count(*oHandles.oneapi, C.int(d))
-			for i := range devCount {
-				gpuInfo := OneapiGPUInfo{
-					GpuInfo: GpuInfo{
-						Library: "oneapi",
-					},
-					driverIndex: d,
-					gpuIndex:    int(i),
+		if envconfig.IntelGpu {
+			oHandles = initOneAPIHandles()
+			for d := range oHandles.oneapi.num_drivers {
+				if oHandles.oneapi == nil {
+					// shouldn't happen
+					slog.Warn("nil oneapi handle with driver count", "count", int(oHandles.oneapi.num_drivers))
+					continue
+				}
+				devCount := C.oneapi_get_device_count(*oHandles.oneapi, C.int(d))
+				for i := range devCount {
+					gpuInfo := OneapiGPUInfo{
+						GpuInfo: GpuInfo{
+							Library: "oneapi",
+						},
+						driverIndex: int(d),
+						gpuIndex:    int(i),
+					}
+					// TODO - split bootstrapping from updating free memory
+					C.oneapi_check_vram(*oHandles.oneapi, C.int(d), i, &memInfo)
+					// TODO - convert this to MinimumMemory based on testing...
+					var totalFreeMem float64 = float64(memInfo.free) * 0.95 // work-around: leave some reserve vram for mkl lib used in ggml-sycl backend.
+					memInfo.free = C.uint64_t(totalFreeMem)
+					gpuInfo.TotalMemory = uint64(memInfo.total)
+					gpuInfo.FreeMemory = uint64(memInfo.free)
+					gpuInfo.ID = C.GoString(&memInfo.gpu_id[0])
+					gpuInfo.Name = C.GoString(&memInfo.gpu_name[0])
+					// TODO dependency path?
+					oneapiGPUs = append(oneapiGPUs, gpuInfo)
 				}
-				// TODO - split bootstrapping from updating free memory
-				C.oneapi_check_vram(*oHandles.oneapi, C.int(d), i, &memInfo)
-				// TODO - convert this to MinimumMemory based on testing...
-				var totalFreeMem float64 = float64(memInfo.free) * 0.95 // work-around: leave some reserve vram for mkl lib used in ggml-sycl backend.
-				memInfo.free = C.uint64_t(totalFreeMem)
-				gpuInfo.TotalMemory = uint64(memInfo.total)
-				gpuInfo.FreeMemory = uint64(memInfo.free)
-				gpuInfo.ID = C.GoString(&memInfo.gpu_id[0])
-				gpuInfo.Name = C.GoString(&memInfo.gpu_name[0])
-				// TODO dependency path?
-				oneapiGPUs = append(oneapiGPUs, gpuInfo)
 			}
 		}