diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/sysreg.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/sysreg.h
index 2bbef5140ce1..ed75bbe4e27d 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/sysreg.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/sysreg.h
@@ -37,7 +37,9 @@
 	((((op0)&3)<<19)|((op1)<<16)|((crn)<<12)|((crm)<<8)|((op2)<<5))
 
 #ifdef __ASSEMBLY__
-#define __emit_inst(x)			.inst (x)
+// The space separator is omitted so that __emit_inst(x) can be parsed as
+// either an assembler directive or an assembler macro argument.
+#define __emit_inst(x)			.inst(x)
 #else
 #define __emit_inst(x)			".inst " __stringify((x)) "\n\t"
 #endif