diff --git a/arch/sparc/include/asm/cpudata_64.h b/arch/sparc/include/asm/cpudata_64.h
index 666d6b5c0440416537783ceabc7c9bce0520ac39..9c3fc03abe9ae2799898f2d58ff8523ade25d36b 100644
--- a/arch/sparc/include/asm/cpudata_64.h
+++ b/arch/sparc/include/asm/cpudata_64.h
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ typedef struct {
 	unsigned short	sock_id;	/* physical package */
 	unsigned short	core_id;
 	unsigned short  max_cache_id;	/* groupings of highest shared cache */
-	unsigned short	proc_id;	/* strand (aka HW thread) id */
+	signed short	proc_id;	/* strand (aka HW thread) id */
 } cpuinfo_sparc;
 
 DECLARE_PER_CPU(cpuinfo_sparc, __cpu_data);