diff --git a/make/linux/Makefile b/make/linux/Makefile
index 720eb9018e9a696b985808aad825597303bb21a5..17c1409798dd269d82579c6dce5a04cce844b9ab 100644
--- a/make/linux/Makefile
+++ b/make/linux/Makefile
@@ -67,8 +67,12 @@ ifndef CC_INTERP
   endif
 endif
 # C1 is not ported on ppc64, so we cannot build a tiered VM:
-ifeq ($(ARCH),ppc64)
-  FORCE_TIERED=0
+# Notice: after 8046471 ARCH will be 'ppc' for top-level ppc64 builds but
+# 'ppc64' for HotSpot-only ppc64 builds. Need to detect both variants here!
+ifneq (,$(findstring $(ARCH), ppc ppc64))
+  ifeq ($(ARCH_DATA_MODEL), 64)
+    FORCE_TIERED=0
+  endif
 endif
 
 ifdef LP64
diff --git a/make/linux/makefiles/defs.make b/make/linux/makefiles/defs.make
index b1c3057b2d738eedb57a0aed258dc2fce11a744a..3af5878aa5d0832de37b60d5ed28a0b140ae5031 100644
--- a/make/linux/makefiles/defs.make
+++ b/make/linux/makefiles/defs.make
@@ -99,7 +99,9 @@ ifneq (,$(findstring $(ARCH), amd64 x86_64 i686 i586))
 endif
 
 # PPC
-ifneq (,$(findstring $(ARCH), ppc))
+# Notice: after 8046471 ARCH will be 'ppc' for top-level ppc64 builds but
+# 'ppc64' for HotSpot-only ppc64 builds. Need to detect both variants here!
+ifneq (,$(findstring $(ARCH), ppc ppc64))
   ifeq ($(ARCH_DATA_MODEL), 64)
     MAKE_ARGS        += LP64=1
     PLATFORM         = linux-ppc64