Overview
Hyper-threading (or Simultaneous Multithreading - SMT) allows a single physical CPU core to execute two threads of instructions at the same time. This helps keep the core's execution units busy even if one thread is waiting for data.
How it Works
The OS sees each physical core as two 'logical' cores. While it doesn't double the performance, it can provide a 15-30% boost in multi-threaded workloads.
AMD Equivalent
AMD uses a similar technology called SMT (Simultaneous Multithreading) in its Ryzen and EPYC processors.