diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 7e02abfda77..67ad1ccdb99 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3800,7 +3800,7 @@ IF(XNNPACK_BUILD_BENCHMARKS)
 
     ADD_EXECUTABLE(softmax-bench bench/softmax.cc)
     TARGET_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(softmax-bench PRIVATE .)
-    TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(softmax-bench PRIVATE XNNPACK benchmark::benchmark bench-utils)
+    TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(softmax-bench PRIVATE XNNPACK fp16 benchmark::benchmark bench-utils)
 
     ADD_EXECUTABLE(square-bench bench/square.cc)
     TARGET_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(square-bench PRIVATE .)
diff --git a/bench/softmax.cc b/bench/softmax.cc
index 250a38681b4..89e29a194aa 100644
--- a/bench/softmax.cc
+++ b/bench/softmax.cc
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 #include <random>
 #include <vector>
 
+#include <fp16/fp16.h>
+
 #include <xnnpack.h>
 
 #include <benchmark/benchmark.h>
@@ -171,6 +173,79 @@ static void xnnpack_softmax_f32(benchmark::State& state) {
     benchmark::Counter(uint64_t(state.iterations()) * bytes_per_iteration, benchmark::Counter::kIsRate);
 }
 
+static void xnnpack_softmax_f16(benchmark::State& state) {
+  const size_t batch_size = static_cast<size_t>(state.range(0));
+  const size_t channels = static_cast<size_t>(state.range(1));
+
+  std::random_device random_device;
+  auto rng = std::mt19937(random_device());
+  auto f32rng = std::bind(std::uniform_real_distribution<float>(-100.0f, 100.0f), std::ref(rng));
+  auto f16rng = std::bind(fp16_ieee_from_fp32_value, f32rng);
+
+  std::vector<uint16_t> input(batch_size * channels + XNN_EXTRA_BYTES / sizeof(uint16_t));
+  std::vector<uint16_t> output(batch_size * channels);
+  std::generate(input.begin(), input.end(), std::ref(f16rng));
+  std::fill(output.begin(), output.end(), UINT16_C(0x7E00) /* NaN */);
+
+  xnn_status status = xnn_initialize(nullptr /* allocator */);
+  if (status != xnn_status_success) {
+    state.SkipWithError("failed to initialize XNNPACK");
+    return;
+  }
+
+  xnn_operator_t softmax_op = nullptr;
+  status = xnn_create_softmax_nc_f16(0 /* flags */, &softmax_op);
+  if (status != xnn_status_success || softmax_op == nullptr) {
+    state.SkipWithError("failed to create SoftMax operator");
+    return;
+  }
+
+  status = xnn_reshape_softmax_nc_f16(
+    softmax_op,
+    channels, channels /* input stride */, channels /* output stride */,
+    batch_size,
+    /*threadpool=*/nullptr);
+  if (status != xnn_status_success) {
+    state.SkipWithError("failed to reshape SoftMax operator");
+    return;
+  }
+
+  status = xnn_setup_softmax_nc_f16(
+    softmax_op,
+    input.data(), output.data());
+  if (status != xnn_status_success) {
+    state.SkipWithError("failed to setup SoftMax operator");
+    return;
+  }
+
+  for (auto _ : state) {
+    status = xnn_run_operator(softmax_op, /*threadpool=*/nullptr);
+    if (status != xnn_status_success) {
+      state.SkipWithError("failed to run SoftMax operator");
+      return;
+    }
+  }
+
+  status = xnn_delete_operator(softmax_op);
+  if (status != xnn_status_success) {
+    state.SkipWithError("failed to delete SoftMax operator");
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const uint64_t cpu_frequency = benchmark::utils::GetCurrentCpuFrequency();
+  if (cpu_frequency != 0) {
+    state.counters["cpufreq"] = cpu_frequency;
+  }
+
+  const size_t elements_per_iteration = batch_size * channels;
+  state.counters["elements"] =
+    benchmark::Counter(uint64_t(state.iterations()) * elements_per_iteration, benchmark::Counter::kIsRate);
+
+  const size_t bytes_per_iteration = 2 * elements_per_iteration * sizeof(uint16_t);
+  state.counters["bytes"] =
+    benchmark::Counter(uint64_t(state.iterations()) * bytes_per_iteration, benchmark::Counter::kIsRate);
+}
+
 #ifdef BENCHMARK_TENSORFLOW_LITE
 static void tflite_softmax_f32(benchmark::State& state) {
   const size_t batch_size = state.range(0);
@@ -308,8 +383,9 @@ static void CharacteristicArguments(benchmark::internal::Benchmark* b)
   b->Args({257 * 257, 151});
 }
 
-BENCHMARK(xnnpack_softmax_qu8)->Apply(CharacteristicArguments)->UseRealTime();
 BENCHMARK(xnnpack_softmax_f32)->Apply(CharacteristicArguments)->UseRealTime();
+BENCHMARK(xnnpack_softmax_f16)->Apply(CharacteristicArguments)->UseRealTime();
+BENCHMARK(xnnpack_softmax_qu8)->Apply(CharacteristicArguments)->UseRealTime();
 
 #ifdef BENCHMARK_TENSORFLOW_LITE
   BENCHMARK(tflite_softmax_f32)->Apply(CharacteristicArguments)->UseRealTime();