diff --git a/guix/utils.scm b/guix/utils.scm
index 4ff2602e23..2256ea2ca6 100644
--- a/guix/utils.scm
+++ b/guix/utils.scm
@@ -84,6 +84,8 @@
             package-name->name+version
             target-linux?
             target-mingw?
+            target-x86-32?
+            target-x86-64?
             target-arm32?
             target-aarch64?
             target-arm?
@@ -553,6 +555,24 @@ a character other than '@'."
   (and target
        (string-suffix? "-mingw32" target)))
 
+(define* (target-x86-32? #:optional (target (or (%current-target-system)
+                                                (%current-system))))
+  "Is the architecture of TARGET a variant of Intel's 32-bit architecture
+(IA32)?"
+  ;; Intel also has a 16-bit architecture in the iN86 series, i286
+  ;; (see, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel/808286) so this
+  ;; procedure is not named target-x86?.
+  (or (string-prefix? "i386-" target)
+      (string-prefix? "i486-" target)
+      (string-prefix? "i586-" target)
+      (string-prefix? "i686-" target)))
+
+(define* (target-x86-64? #:optional (target (or (%current-target-system)
+                                                 (%current-system))))
+  "Is the architecture of TARGET a variant of Intel/AMD's 64-bit
+architecture (x86_64)?"
+  (string-prefix? "x86_64-" target))
+
 (define* (target-arm32? #:optional (target (or (%current-target-system)
                                                (%current-system))))
   (string-prefix? "arm" target))
diff --git a/tests/utils.scm b/tests/utils.scm
index 80a0e669a4..92439b5587 100644
--- a/tests/utils.scm
+++ b/tests/utils.scm
@@ -306,6 +306,29 @@ skip these tests."
        '("i686-linux-gnu" "i686-pc-gnu"
          "i686-w64-mingw32")))
 
+(test-equal "target-x86-32?"
+  '(#f #f #f #t #t #t #t #f)
+  ;; These are (according to Wikipedia) two RISC architectures
+  ;; by Intel and presumably not compatible with the x86-32 series.
+  (map target-x86-32?
+       '("i860-gnu" "i960-gnu"
+         ;; This is a 16-bit architecture
+         "i286-gnu"
+         ;; These are part of the x86-32 series.
+         "i386-gnu" "i486-gnu" "i586-gnu" "i686-gnu"
+         ;; Maybe this one will exist some day, but not yet.
+         "i786-gnu")))
+
+(test-equal "target-x86-64?"
+  '(#t #f #f #f)
+  (map target-x86-64?
+       `("x86_64-linux-gnu" "i386-linux-gnu"
+         ;; Just because it includes "64" doesn't make it 64-bit.
+         "aarch64-linux-gnu"
+         ;; Note that (expt 2 109) in decimal notation starts with 64.
+         ;; However, it isn't 32-bit.
+         ,(format #f "x86_~a-linux-gnu" (expt 2 109)))))
+
 (test-end)
 
 (false-if-exception (delete-file temp-file))