Related: fetch_max is an instance of what the following SPAA 2013 paper calls an atomic "priority update" or atomic "write-with-max". This type of atomic operation can have much lower contention than its counterparts like atomic increment.

https://doi.org/10.1145/2486159.2486189 https://jshun.csail.mit.edu/contention.pdf

One of the most practically important papers out there, I wish it were better known (but fortunately I think the "right" people know about it).