diff --git a/dace/runtime/include/dace/types.h b/dace/runtime/include/dace/types.h
index 5a3ca5f62f..675ab6980e 100644
--- a/dace/runtime/include/dace/types.h
+++ b/dace/runtime/include/dace/types.h
@@ -96,17 +96,60 @@ namespace dace
     typedef std::complex<float> complex64;
     typedef std::complex<double> complex128;
     struct half {
-        // source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/26779139/15853075
+        half() {}
+
+        // IEEE-754 binary32 -> binary16, round-to-nearest-even.
+        // Based on (https://gist.github.com/rygorous/2156668)
         half(float f) {
-            union { float fval; uint32_t x; } u;
-            u.fval = f;
-            h = ((u.x>>16)&0x8000)|((((u.x&0x7f800000)-0x38000000)>>13)&0x7c00)|((u.x>>13)&0x03ff);
+            union { float f; uint32_t u; } in;
+            in.f = f;
+            uint32_t sign = in.u & 0x80000000u;
+            in.u ^= sign;  // work on the magnitude
+
+            if (in.u >= 0x47800000u) {
+                // Inf or NaN (exponent overflows half range): NaN -> qNaN, else Inf.
+                h = (in.u > 0x7f800000u) ? 0x7e00 : 0x7c00;
+            } else if (in.u < 0x38800000u) {
+                // Subnormal half or zero. Adding this magic constant and relying on
+                // round-to-nearest-even FP addition aligns the mantissa correctly.
+                union { uint32_t u; float f; } magic;
+                magic.u = 0x3f000000u;  // 126 << 23
+                in.f += magic.f;
+                h = (uint16_t)(in.u - magic.u);
+            } else {
+                // Normal half: rebias exponent (127 -> 15) and round mantissa to even.
+                uint32_t mant_odd = (in.u >> 13) & 1;
+                in.u += 0xc8000000u + 0xfffu;  // ((15 - 127) << 23) + rounding bias
+                in.u += mant_odd;
+                h = (uint16_t)(in.u >> 13);
+            }
+            h |= (uint16_t)(sign >> 16);
         }
-        operator float() {
-            union { float f; uint32_t tmp; } u;
-            u.tmp = ((h&0x8000)<<16) | (((h&0x7c00)+0x1C000)<<13) | ((h&0x03FF)<<13);
-            return u.f;
+
+        // IEEE-754 binary16 -> binary32 (exact; every binary16 fits in binary32).
+        operator float() const {
+            uint32_t sign = (uint32_t)(h & 0x8000) << 16;
+            uint32_t exp = (h >> 10) & 0x1f;
+            uint32_t mant = h & 0x3ff;
+            union { uint32_t u; float f; } out;
+            if (exp == 0) {
+                if (mant == 0) {
+                    out.u = sign;  // signed zero
+                } else {
+                    // Subnormal half: normalize into a float normal.
+                    exp = 1;
+                    do { exp--; mant <<= 1; } while ((mant & 0x400) == 0);
+                    mant &= 0x3ff;
+                    out.u = sign | ((exp + (127 - 15)) << 23) | (mant << 13);
+                }
+            } else if (exp == 0x1f) {
+                out.u = sign | 0x7f800000u | (mant << 13);  // Inf or NaN
+            } else {
+                out.u = sign | ((exp + (127 - 15)) << 23) | (mant << 13);  // normal
+            }
+            return out.f;
         }
+
         uint16_t h;
     };
     typedef half float16;
diff --git a/tests/half_cpu_test.py b/tests/half_cpu_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6e0175cf7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/half_cpu_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+# Copyright 2019-2026 ETH Zurich and the DaCe authors. All rights reserved.
+
+import dace
+import numpy as np
+
+N = dace.symbol("N")
+
+
+def _roundtrip_program():
+    """A program that stores float32 input as float16 and reads it back as float32.
+
+    This forces both conversion directions of the host ``dace::half``:
+    ``half(float)`` on the store and ``operator float()`` on the load.
+    """
+
+    @dace.program
+    def f32_to_f16_to_f32(inp: dace.float32[N], out: dace.float32[N]):
+        tmp = np.ndarray([N], dace.float16)
+        for i in dace.map[0:N]:
+            with dace.tasklet:
+                a << inp[i]
+                t >> tmp[i]
+                t = a  # float32 -> float16
+        for i in dace.map[0:N]:
+            with dace.tasklet:
+                t << tmp[i]
+                o >> out[i]
+                o = t  # float16 -> float32
+
+    return f32_to_f16_to_f32
+
+
+def test_float16_cpu_roundtrip_matches_numpy():
+    """Host float32<->float16 conversion must agree with IEEE-754 (NumPy float16).
+
+    Covers zero, exact-rounding, small/subnormal magnitudes, inf, and NaN.
+    """
+    prog = _roundtrip_program()
+    inp = np.array(
+        [
+            0.0,
+            -0.0,
+            1.0,
+            -1.0,
+            2.0,
+            3.0,
+            0.5,
+            -0.5,
+            1.25,
+            -2.5,
+            100.0,
+            1024.0,
+            65504.0,
+            1e-3,
+            6e-5,
+            6e-8,
+            -6e-8,
+            np.inf,
+            -np.inf,
+            np.nan,
+        ],
+        dtype=np.float32,
+    )
+    out = np.full(inp.shape, np.nan, dtype=np.float32)
+    prog(inp=inp, out=out, N=inp.size)
+
+    # NumPy's float16 is IEEE-754 round-to-nearest-even -- the reference.
+    expected = inp.astype(np.float16).astype(np.float32)
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(out, expected)
+
+
+def test_float16_cpu_random_roundtrip_matches_numpy():
+    """Randomized sweep of the host conversion against NumPy float16."""
+    rng = np.random.default_rng(0)
+    inp = (rng.standard_normal(4096) * 10.0).astype(np.float32)
+    out = np.full(inp.shape, np.nan, dtype=np.float32)
+
+    prog = _roundtrip_program()
+    prog(inp=inp, out=out, N=inp.size)
+
+    expected = inp.astype(np.float16).astype(np.float32)
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(out, expected)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    test_float16_cpu_roundtrip_matches_numpy()
+    test_float16_cpu_random_roundtrip_matches_numpy()