diff --git a/src/backend/Makefile b/src/backend/Makefile
index 9672e2cb43a..aa79526b0cf 100644
--- a/src/backend/Makefile
+++ b/src/backend/Makefile
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ ifeq ($(with_systemd),yes)
 LIBS += -lsystemd
 endif
 
+LIBS += -lsimdjson
+
+
 ##########################################################################
 
 all: submake-libpgport submake-catalog-headers submake-utils-headers postgres $(POSTGRES_IMP)
@@ -63,7 +66,7 @@ ifneq ($(PORTNAME), win32)
 ifneq ($(PORTNAME), aix)
 
 postgres: $(OBJS)
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(call expand_subsys,$^) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_EX) $(export_dynamic) $(LIBS) -o $@
+	$(CXX) $(CFLAGS) $(call expand_subsys,$^) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_EX) $(export_dynamic) $(LIBS) -o $@
 
 endif
 endif
diff --git a/src/common/Makefile b/src/common/Makefile
index 5422579a6a2..f3e4d985062 100644
--- a/src/common/Makefile
+++ b/src/common/Makefile
@@ -92,6 +92,9 @@ OBJS_COMMON += \
 	sha2.o
 endif
 
+simdjson-glue_srv.o:
+	$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -c simdjson-glue.c -o simdjson-glue_srv.o
+
 # A few files are currently only built for frontend, not server
 # (Mkvcbuild.pm has a copy of this list, too).  logging.c is excluded
 # from OBJS_FRONTEND_SHLIB (shared library) as a matter of policy,
@@ -110,6 +113,9 @@ OBJS_FRONTEND = \
 OBJS_SHLIB = $(OBJS_FRONTEND_SHLIB:%.o=%_shlib.o)
 OBJS_SRV = $(OBJS_COMMON:%.o=%_srv.o)
 
+# Only use the simdjson version in the server
+OBJS_SRV += simdjson-glue_srv.o
+
 # where to find gen_keywordlist.pl and subsidiary files
 TOOLSDIR = $(top_srcdir)/src/tools
 GEN_KEYWORDLIST = $(PERL) -I $(TOOLSDIR) $(TOOLSDIR)/gen_keywordlist.pl
diff --git a/src/common/simdjson-glue.c b/src/common/simdjson-glue.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9c300bde022
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/simdjson-glue.c
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+#include <simdjson.h>
+
+#include <stddef.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+// Heikki: This is copy-pasted from simdjson library
+// src/fallback/dom_parser_implementation.cpp
+//
+// Note: Apache licensed!
+
+// credit: based on code from Google Fuchsia (Apache Licensed)
+static bool fallback_validate_utf8(const char *buf, size_t len)
+{
+  const uint8_t *data = reinterpret_cast<const uint8_t *>(buf);
+  uint64_t pos = 0;
+  uint32_t code_point = 0;
+  while (pos < len) {
+    // check of the next 8 bytes are ascii.
+    uint64_t next_pos = pos + 16;
+    if (next_pos <= len) { // if it is safe to read 8 more bytes, check that they are ascii
+      uint64_t v1;
+      memcpy(&v1, data + pos, sizeof(uint64_t));
+      uint64_t v2;
+      memcpy(&v2, data + pos + sizeof(uint64_t), sizeof(uint64_t));
+      uint64_t v{v1 | v2};
+      if ((v & 0x8080808080808080) == 0) {
+        pos = next_pos;
+        continue;
+      }
+    }
+    unsigned char byte = data[pos];
+    if (byte < 0b10000000) {
+      pos++;
+      continue;
+    } else if ((byte & 0b11100000) == 0b11000000) {
+      next_pos = pos + 2;
+      if (next_pos > len) { return false; }
+      if ((data[pos + 1] & 0b11000000) != 0b10000000) { return false; }
+      // range check
+      code_point = (byte & 0b00011111) << 6 | (data[pos + 1] & 0b00111111);
+      if (code_point < 0x80 || 0x7ff < code_point) { return false; }
+    } else if ((byte & 0b11110000) == 0b11100000) {
+      next_pos = pos + 3;
+      if (next_pos > len) { return false; }
+      if ((data[pos + 1] & 0b11000000) != 0b10000000) { return false; }
+      if ((data[pos + 2] & 0b11000000) != 0b10000000) { return false; }
+      // range check
+      code_point = (byte & 0b00001111) << 12 |
+                   (data[pos + 1] & 0b00111111) << 6 |
+                   (data[pos + 2] & 0b00111111);
+      if (code_point < 0x800 || 0xffff < code_point ||
+          (0xd7ff < code_point && code_point < 0xe000)) {
+        return false;
+      }
+    } else if ((byte & 0b11111000) == 0b11110000) { // 0b11110000
+      next_pos = pos + 4;
+      if (next_pos > len) { return false; }
+      if ((data[pos + 1] & 0b11000000) != 0b10000000) { return false; }
+      if ((data[pos + 2] & 0b11000000) != 0b10000000) { return false; }
+      if ((data[pos + 3] & 0b11000000) != 0b10000000) { return false; }
+      // range check
+      code_point =
+          (byte & 0b00000111) << 18 | (data[pos + 1] & 0b00111111) << 12 |
+          (data[pos + 2] & 0b00111111) << 6 | (data[pos + 3] & 0b00111111);
+      if (code_point <= 0xffff || 0x10ffff < code_point) { return false; }
+    } else {
+      // we may have a continuation
+      return false;
+    }
+    pos = next_pos;
+  }
+  return true;
+}
+
+
+extern "C" {
+
+bool
+simdjson_validate_utf8(const char *s, int len)
+{
+
+	// uncomment to test simdjson's fallback implementation
+	//return fallback_validate_utf8(s, len);
+
+	return simdjson::validate_utf8(s, len);
+
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/common/wchar.c b/src/common/wchar.c
index 6e7d731e020..0c77f83ba01 100644
--- a/src/common/wchar.c
+++ b/src/common/wchar.c
@@ -1758,7 +1758,7 @@ pg_utf8_verifychar(const unsigned char *s, int len)
 }
 
 static int
-pg_utf8_verifystr(const unsigned char *s, int len)
+pg_utf8_verifystr_slow(const unsigned char *s, int len)
 {
 	const unsigned char *start = s;
 
@@ -1786,6 +1786,23 @@ pg_utf8_verifystr(const unsigned char *s, int len)
 	return s - start;
 }
 
+
+
+#ifndef FRONTEND
+extern bool simdjson_validate_utf8(const char *s, int len);
+#endif
+
+static int
+pg_utf8_verifystr(const unsigned char *s, int len)
+{
+#ifndef FRONTEND
+	if (true && simdjson_validate_utf8((const char *) s, len))
+		return len;
+	else
+#endif
+		return pg_utf8_verifystr_slow(s, len);
+}
+
 /*
  * Check for validity of a single UTF-8 encoded character
  *