diff --git a/arrow/compute/internal/kernels/scalar_comparisons.go b/arrow/compute/internal/kernels/scalar_comparisons.go
index b30605bf..e4a50540 100644
--- a/arrow/compute/internal/kernels/scalar_comparisons.go
+++ b/arrow/compute/internal/kernels/scalar_comparisons.go
@@ -745,3 +745,55 @@ func IsNullNotNullKernels() []exec.ScalarKernel {
 
 	return results
 }
+
+func ConstBoolExec(val bool) func(*exec.KernelCtx, *exec.ExecSpan, *exec.ExecResult) error {
+	return func(ctx *exec.KernelCtx, batch *exec.ExecSpan, out *exec.ExecResult) error {
+		bitutil.SetBitsTo(out.Buffers[1].Buf, out.Offset, batch.Len, val)
+		return nil
+	}
+}
+
+func isNanKernelExec[T float32 | float64](ctx *exec.KernelCtx, batch *exec.ExecSpan, out *exec.ExecResult) error {
+	kn := ctx.Kernel.(*exec.ScalarKernel)
+	knData := kn.Data.(CompareFuncData).Funcs()
+
+	outPrefix := int(out.Offset % 8)
+	outBuf := out.Buffers[1].Buf[out.Offset/8:]
+
+	inputBytes := getOffsetSpanBytes(&batch.Values[0].Array)
+	knData.funcAA(inputBytes, inputBytes, outBuf, outPrefix)
+	return nil
+}
+
+func IsNaNKernels() []exec.ScalarKernel {
+	outputType := exec.NewOutputType(arrow.FixedWidthTypes.Boolean)
+
+	knFloat32 := exec.NewScalarKernel([]exec.InputType{exec.NewExactInput(arrow.PrimitiveTypes.Float32)},
+		outputType, isNanKernelExec[float32], nil)
+	knFloat32.Data = genCompareKernel[float32](CmpNE)
+	knFloat32.NullHandling = exec.NullNoOutput
+	knFloat64 := exec.NewScalarKernel([]exec.InputType{exec.NewExactInput(arrow.PrimitiveTypes.Float64)},
+		outputType, isNanKernelExec[float64], nil)
+	knFloat64.Data = genCompareKernel[float64](CmpNE)
+	knFloat64.NullHandling = exec.NullNoOutput
+
+	kernels := []exec.ScalarKernel{knFloat32, knFloat64}
+
+	for _, dt := range intTypes {
+		kn := exec.NewScalarKernel(
+			[]exec.InputType{exec.NewExactInput(dt)},
+			outputType, ConstBoolExec(false), nil)
+		kn.NullHandling = exec.NullNoOutput
+		kernels = append(kernels, kn)
+	}
+
+	for _, id := range []arrow.Type{arrow.NULL, arrow.DURATION, arrow.DECIMAL32, arrow.DECIMAL64, arrow.DECIMAL128, arrow.DECIMAL256} {
+		kn := exec.NewScalarKernel(
+			[]exec.InputType{exec.NewIDInput(id)},
+			outputType, ConstBoolExec(false), nil)
+		kn.NullHandling = exec.NullNoOutput
+		kernels = append(kernels, kn)
+	}
+
+	return kernels
+}
diff --git a/arrow/compute/scalar_compare.go b/arrow/compute/scalar_compare.go
index cfead2a8..0e853a65 100644
--- a/arrow/compute/scalar_compare.go
+++ b/arrow/compute/scalar_compare.go
@@ -20,12 +20,10 @@ package compute
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/arrow"
 	"github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/arrow/compute/exec"
 	"github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/arrow/compute/internal/kernels"
-	"github.com/apache/arrow-go/v18/arrow/scalar"
 )
 
 type compareFunction struct {
@@ -152,34 +150,11 @@ func RegisterScalarComparisons(reg FunctionRegistry) {
 	reg.AddFunction(isNullFn, false)
 	reg.AddFunction(isNotNullFn, false)
 
-	reg.AddFunction(NewMetaFunction("is_nan", Unary(), EmptyFuncDoc,
-		func(ctx context.Context, opts FunctionOptions, args ...Datum) (Datum, error) {
-			type hasType interface {
-				Type() arrow.DataType
-			}
-
-			// only Scalar, Array and ChunkedArray have a Type method
-			arg, ok := args[0].(hasType)
-			if !ok {
-				// don't support Table/Record/None kinds
-				return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: unsupported type for is_nan %s",
-					arrow.ErrNotImplemented, args[0])
-			}
-
-			switch arg.Type() {
-			case arrow.PrimitiveTypes.Float32, arrow.PrimitiveTypes.Float64:
-				return CallFunction(ctx, "not_equal", nil, args[0], args[0])
-			default:
-				if arg, ok := args[0].(ArrayLikeDatum); ok {
-					result, err := scalar.MakeArrayFromScalar(scalar.NewBooleanScalar(false),
-						int(arg.Len()), GetAllocator(ctx))
-					if err != nil {
-						return nil, err
-					}
-					return NewDatumWithoutOwning(result), nil
-				}
-
-				return NewDatum(false), nil
-			}
-		}), false)
+	isNaNFn := &compareFunction{*NewScalarFunction("is_nan", Unary(), EmptyFuncDoc)}
+	for _, k := range kernels.IsNaNKernels() {
+		if err := isNaNFn.AddKernel(k); err != nil {
+			panic(err)
+		}
+	}
+	reg.AddFunction(isNaNFn, false)
 }
diff --git a/arrow/compute/scalar_compare_test.go b/arrow/compute/scalar_compare_test.go
index b0c9ab91..e45b3afc 100644
--- a/arrow/compute/scalar_compare_test.go
+++ b/arrow/compute/scalar_compare_test.go
@@ -1497,8 +1497,8 @@ func (sv *ScalarValiditySuite) TestIsNaN() {
 	}{
 		{`[]`, `[]`},
 		{`[1]`, `[false]`},
-		{`[null]`, `[null]`},
-		{`["NaN", 1, 0, null]`, `[true, false, false, null]`},
+		{`[null]`, `[false]`},
+		{`["NaN", 1, 0, null]`, `[true, false, false, false]`},
 	}
 
 	for _, typ := range floatingTypes {