# Recent lld/ELF performance improvements

DevFeed: [Recent lld/ELF performance improvements](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/recent-lld-elf-performance-improvements-31121.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://maskray.me/blog/2026-04-12-recent-lld-elf-performance-improvements>)

Published: 2026-04-12T07:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [MaskRay](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/maskray.md>)

Topics: [LLVM](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/llvm.md>), [Benchmark](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/benchmark.md>), [benchmarking](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/benchmarking.md>), [clang](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/clang.md>), [Chromium](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/chromium.md>)

Tags: [2026](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/2026.md>), [benchmark](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/benchmark.md>), [chromium](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/chromium.md>), [clang](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/clang.md>), [gc](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/gc.md>), [gdb](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/gdb.md>), [improvements](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/improvements.md>), [linker](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linker.md>), [lld](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/lld.md>), [llvm](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/llvm.md>), [macos](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/macos.md>), [overhead](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/overhead.md>), [patches](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/patches.md>), [performance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/performance.md>)

## AI overview

This article reports LLVM lld/ELF linker performance improvements from parallelizing link phases and reducing task-runtime overhead. Benchmarks show a 1.34x speedup over lld 22.1 for a Release+Asserts clang link and a 1.09x speedup for a Chromium debug link, while mold and wild remain faster in the comparisons described.

## Source excerpt

Updated in 2026-05. Since the LLVM 22 branch was cut, I've landed patches that parallelize more link phases and cut task-runtime overhead. This post compares current main against lld 22.1, mold, and wild. Headline: a Release+Asserts clang --gc-sections link is 1.34x as fast as lld 22.1; Chromium debug with --gdb-index is 1.09x as fast. mold and wild are still ahead -- the last section explains why.