diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/choices.py b/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/choices.py
index 1ac5b914cb7e..828a5cf0ceb0 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/choices.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/choices.py
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@
 
 GRAMMAR_BACKEND_CHOICES = ["xgrammar", "outlines", "llguidance", "none"]
 
-SAMPLING_BACKEND_CHOICES = {"flashinfer", "pytorch", "ascend"}
+SAMPLING_BACKEND_CHOICES = {"flashinfer", "pytorch", "ascend", "intel_xpu"}
 
 MOE_RUNNER_BACKEND_CHOICES = [
     "auto",
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/platform_hook.py b/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/platform_hook.py
index 67007b73427f..7fdffb6c2aef 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/platform_hook.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/platform_hook.py
@@ -127,6 +127,12 @@ def handle_symm_mem_device_support(server_args: Any):
 def handle_xpu_backends(server_args: Any):
     cfg = resolving_view(server_args)
     if cfg.device == "xpu":
+        if cfg.sampling_backend is None:
+            declare_resolution(
+                server_args,
+                "_handle_xpu_backends",
+                sampling_backend="intel_xpu",
+            )
         # Decode graph is opt-in on XPU: unless the user explicitly set
         # --cuda-graph-backend-decode (or --cuda-graph-config), keep it
         # disabled so the default startup doesn't require graph capture.
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/validation_hook.py b/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/validation_hook.py
index 352b5f4c9624..5504e7bd9c58 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/validation_hook.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/validation_hook.py
@@ -266,6 +266,8 @@ def check_server_args(server_args: Any):
     if cfg.enable_quant_communications and cfg.device != "npu":
         raise ValueError("Communications quantization is only supported for NPU device")
 
+    validate_device_sampling_backend(cfg.sampling_backend, cfg.device)
+
     # grpc_port is None for HTTP-only launches, so the == comparison is
     # already False there; no explicit None check needed.
     if not (cfg.smg_grpc_mode or cfg.grpc_mode) and cfg.grpc_port == cfg.port:
@@ -384,6 +386,18 @@ def check_load_publish_args(server_args: Any):
         raise ValueError(reason)
 
 
+def validate_device_sampling_backend(
+    sampling_backend: Optional[str], device: str
+) -> None:
+    # sampler.py binds the intel_xpu kernels only under is_xpu(), so on another
+    # device the backend either aliases to flashinfer's names or NameErrors on
+    # the first non-greedy decode.
+    if sampling_backend == "intel_xpu" and device != "xpu":
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"--sampling-backend intel_xpu requires --device xpu, got --device {device}"
+        )
+
+
 def validate_ib_devices(device_str: Optional[str]) -> Optional[str]:
     """
     Validate IB devices before passing to mooncake.
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/layers/sampler.py b/python/sglang/srt/layers/sampler.py
index abf59fd1c0a6..b72d6a13de0f 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/layers/sampler.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/layers/sampler.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
     is_hip,
     is_musa,
     is_npu,
+    is_xpu,
 )
 
 if is_cuda():
@@ -43,7 +44,7 @@
         top_p_renorm_prob,
     )
 
-if is_musa():
+if is_musa() or is_xpu():
     from sgl_kernel import (
         min_p_sampling_from_probs,
         top_k_renorm_prob,
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@
 SYNC_TOKEN_IDS_ACROSS_TP = get_bool_env_var("SYNC_TOKEN_IDS_ACROSS_TP")
 SGLANG_RETURN_ORIGINAL_LOGPROB = get_bool_env_var("SGLANG_RETURN_ORIGINAL_LOGPROB")
 _CUSTOM_SAMPLER_FACTORIES: Dict[str, Callable[[], "Sampler"]] = {}
-_BUILT_IN_SAMPLING_BACKENDS = {"flashinfer", "pytorch", "ascend"}
+_BUILT_IN_SAMPLING_BACKENDS = {"flashinfer", "pytorch", "ascend", "intel_xpu"}
 
 
 def _trace_e2e_sampler(stage: str, **fields) -> None:
@@ -354,9 +355,9 @@ def _sample_from_probs(
                 )
         else:
             backend = get_exec().kernel.sampling_backend
-            if backend == "flashinfer":
+            if backend in ("flashinfer", "intel_xpu"):
                 assert sampling_info.sampling_seed is None, (
-                    "Sampling seed is not supported for flashinfer backend"
+                    f"Sampling seed is not supported for {backend} backend"
                 )
                 if sampling_info.need_min_p_sampling:
                     probs = top_k_renorm_prob(probs, sampling_info.top_ks)