The performance of the linear algebra operations in any machine ultimately depend on the efficient BLAS implementation available on the machine and Matlab is not an exception!
By default, Matlab uses a version of Intel MKL which they upgrade with every release.
But usually the default option will not be optimal for the particular machine.
Luckily, Linux version of Intel MKL is free for non-commercial use.
We may download and install it to improve the performance.
I could install it on my machine today. But linking Intel MKL with Matlab is not completed yet.
I’ll update it once I complete the job.
Statistical Signal Processing (SSP) Lab, IISc 