diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_qsbr.h b/Include/internal/pycore_qsbr.h
@@ -83,8 +83,9 @@ struct _qsbr_shared {
     // Minimum observed read sequence of all QSBR thread states
     uint64_t rd_seq;
 
-    // Array of QSBR thread states.
+    // Array of QSBR thread states (aligned to 64 bytes).
     struct _qsbr_pad *array;
+    void *array_raw;   // raw allocation pointer (for free)
     Py_ssize_t size;
 
     // Freelist of unused _qsbr_thread_states (protected by mutex)

@@ -102,6 +102,12 @@ typedef struct _PyThreadStateImpl {
 #if _Py_TIER2
     struct _PyJitTracerState *jit_tracer_state;
 #endif
+
+#ifdef Py_GIL_DISABLED
+    // gh-144438: Add padding to ensure that the fields above don't share a
+    // cache line with other allocations.
+    char __padding[64];
+#endif
 } _PyThreadStateImpl;
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus

diff --git a/.../NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-02-06-21-45-52.gh-issue-144438.GI_uB1LR.rst b/.../NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-02-06-21-45-52.gh-issue-144438.GI_uB1LR.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Align the QSBR thread state array to a 64-byte cache line boundary to
+avoid false sharing in the :term:`free-threaded build`.
diff --git a/Python/qsbr.c b/Python/qsbr.c
@@ -85,22 +85,29 @@ grow_thread_array(struct _qsbr_shared *shared)
         new_size = MIN_ARRAY_SIZE;
     }
 
-    struct _qsbr_pad *array = PyMem_RawCalloc(new_size, sizeof(*array));
-    if (array == NULL) {
+    // Overallocate by 63 bytes so we can align to a 64-byte boundary.
+    // This avoids potential false sharing between the first entry and other
+    // allocations.
+    size_t alignment = 64;
+    size_t alloc_size = (size_t)new_size * sizeof(struct _qsbr_pad) + alignment - 1;
+    void *raw = PyMem_RawCalloc(1, alloc_size);
+    if (raw == NULL) {
         return -1;
     }
+    struct _qsbr_pad *array = _Py_ALIGN_UP(raw, alignment);
 
-    struct _qsbr_pad *old = shared->array;
-    if (old != NULL) {
+    void *old_raw = shared->array_raw;
+    if (shared->array != NULL) {
         memcpy(array, shared->array, shared->size * sizeof(*array));
     }
 
     shared->array = array;
+    shared->array_raw = raw;
     shared->size = new_size;
     shared->freelist = NULL;
     initialize_new_array(shared);
 
-    PyMem_RawFree(old);
+    PyMem_RawFree(old_raw);
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -257,8 +264,9 @@ void
 _Py_qsbr_fini(PyInterpreterState *interp)
 {
     struct _qsbr_shared *shared = &interp->qsbr;
-    PyMem_RawFree(shared->array);
+    PyMem_RawFree(shared->array_raw);
     shared->array = NULL;
+    shared->array_raw = NULL;
     shared->size = 0;
     shared->freelist = NULL;
 }
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
		@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
		Align the QSBR thread state array to a 64-byte cache line boundary to
		avoid false sharing in the :term:`free-threaded build`.