diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index aee42e40968..67be2664bfd 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ release.
   ([#1439](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/1439))
 - Add [`ForceFlush`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/main/specification/trace/sdk.md#forceflush) to SDK's `TracerProvider` ([#1452](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/1452))
 - Add `elasticsearch` to `db.system` semantic conventions ([#1463](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/1463))
+- Add `arch` to `host` semantic conventions ([#1483](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/1483))
 - Add `runtime` to `container` semantic conventions ([#1482](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/1482))
 - Rename `gcp_gke` to `gcp_kubernetes_engine` to have consistency with other
 Google products under `cloud.infrastructure_service` ([#1496](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/1496))
diff --git a/semantic_conventions/resource/host.yaml b/semantic_conventions/resource/host.yaml
index 99264ca9d3d..b8cd3c2212a 100644
--- a/semantic_conventions/resource/host.yaml
+++ b/semantic_conventions/resource/host.yaml
@@ -21,6 +21,33 @@ groups:
         brief: >
           Type of host. For Cloud, this must be the machine type.
         examples: ['n1-standard-1']
+      - id: arch
+        type:
+          allow_custom_values: true
+          members:
+            - id: amd64
+              value: 'amd64'
+              brief: "AMD64"
+            - id: arm32
+              value: 'arm32'
+              brief: "ARM32"
+            - id: arm64
+              value: 'arm64'
+              brief: "ARM64"
+            - id: ia64
+              value: 'ia64'
+              brief: "Itanium"
+            - id: ppc32
+              value: 'ppc32'
+              brief: "32-bit PowerPC"
+            - id: ppc64
+              value: 'ppc64'
+              brief: "64-bit PowerPC"
+            - id: x86
+              value: 'x86'
+              brief: "32-bit x86"
+        brief: >
+            The CPU architecture the host system is running on.
       - id: image.name
         type: string
         brief: >
diff --git a/specification/resource/semantic_conventions/host.md b/specification/resource/semantic_conventions/host.md
index c1ee95af672..a151ba8843a 100644
--- a/specification/resource/semantic_conventions/host.md
+++ b/specification/resource/semantic_conventions/host.md
@@ -12,7 +12,20 @@
 | `host.id` | string | Unique host ID. For Cloud, this must be the instance_id assigned by the cloud provider. | `opentelemetry-test` | No |
 | `host.name` | string | Name of the host. On Unix systems, it may contain what the hostname command returns, or the fully qualified hostname, or another name specified by the user. | `opentelemetry-test` | No |
 | `host.type` | string | Type of host. For Cloud, this must be the machine type. | `n1-standard-1` | No |
+| `host.arch` | string | The CPU architecture the host system is running on. | `amd64` | No |
 | `host.image.name` | string | Name of the VM image or OS install the host was instantiated from. | `infra-ami-eks-worker-node-7d4ec78312`; `CentOS-8-x86_64-1905` | No |
 | `host.image.id` | string | VM image ID. For Cloud, this value is from the provider. | `ami-07b06b442921831e5` | No |
 | `host.image.version` | string | The version string of the VM image as defined in [Version Attributes](README.md#version-attributes). | `0.1` | No |
+
+`host.arch` MUST be one of the following or, if none of the listed values apply, a custom value:
+
+| Value  | Description |
+|---|---|
+| `amd64` | AMD64 |
+| `arm32` | ARM32 |
+| `arm64` | ARM64 |
+| `ia64` | Itanium |
+| `ppc32` | 32-bit PowerPC |
+| `ppc64` | 64-bit PowerPC |
+| `x86` | 32-bit x86 |
 <!-- endsemconv -->