diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/include/nvkm/core/subdev.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/include/nvkm/core/subdev.h
index 1218f28c14baba31cd93e7453de2694cda24e4d1..76288c682e9eaed70332e5ce0a19bf47b0faace2 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/include/nvkm/core/subdev.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/include/nvkm/core/subdev.h
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ struct nvkm_subdev_func {
 };
 
 extern const char *nvkm_subdev_name[NVKM_SUBDEV_NR];
+int nvkm_subdev_new_(const struct nvkm_subdev_func *, struct nvkm_device *,
+		     int index, struct nvkm_subdev **);
 void nvkm_subdev_ctor(const struct nvkm_subdev_func *, struct nvkm_device *,
 		      int index, struct nvkm_subdev *);
 void nvkm_subdev_del(struct nvkm_subdev **);
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/core/subdev.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/core/subdev.c
index 79a8f9d305c58d19c69a295cb37cb090ebf3179b..49d468b45d3f4def458e7d1e9051e79434e72340 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/core/subdev.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/core/subdev.c
@@ -221,3 +221,14 @@ nvkm_subdev_ctor(const struct nvkm_subdev_func *func,
 	__mutex_init(&subdev->mutex, name, &nvkm_subdev_lock_class[index]);
 	subdev->debug = nvkm_dbgopt(device->dbgopt, name);
 }
+
+int
+nvkm_subdev_new_(const struct nvkm_subdev_func *func,
+		 struct nvkm_device *device, int index,
+		 struct nvkm_subdev **psubdev)
+{
+	if (!(*psubdev = kzalloc(sizeof(**psubdev), GFP_KERNEL)))
+		return -ENOMEM;
+	nvkm_subdev_ctor(func, device, index, *psubdev);
+	return 0;
+}