AbstractFor maximum efficiency in a multiprocessor system the load should be shared evenly over all processors; that is, there should be no idle processors when tasks are available. The delay in a load-sharing algorithm is the larger of the maximum time that any processor can be idle before a task is assigned to it, and the maximum time that it must wait to be relieved of an excess task. A simple parallel priority queue architecture for load sharing in a p-processor multiprocessor system is proposed. This architecture uses O(p log(n/p)) special-purpose processors (where n is the maximal size of the priority queue), an interconnection pattern of bounded degree, and achieves delay O(log p), which is optimal for any bounded degree system.