diff --git a/dev-libs/pocl/pocl-1.8-r2.ebuild b/dev-libs/pocl/pocl-1.8-r2.ebuild
index 2c7536c0a2..4189a2fb1c 100644
--- a/dev-libs/pocl/pocl-1.8-r2.ebuild
+++ b/dev-libs/pocl/pocl-1.8-r2.ebuild
@@ -17,9 +17,11 @@ SRC_URI="https://github.com/pocl/pocl/archive/v${PV}.tar.gz -> ${P}.tar.gz"
 
 LICENSE="GPL-2"
 SLOT="0"
-KEYWORDS="~amd64"
+KEYWORDS="~amd64 ~ppc64"
 # TODO: hsa tce
 IUSE="accel cl20 +conformance cuda debug examples float-conversion hardening +hwloc memmanager test"
+
+
 # Tests not yet passing, fragile in Portage environment(?)
 RESTRICT="!test? ( test ) test"
 
@@ -68,12 +70,24 @@ pkg_setup() {
 }
 
 src_configure() {
+	local host_cpu_variants="generic"
+	if use amd64
+	then
+		# Use pocl's curated list of CPU variants which should contain a good match for any given amd64 CPU
+		host_cpu_variants="distro"
+	elif use ppc64
+	then
+		# A selection of architectures in which new Altivec / VSX features were added
+		# This attempts to recreate the amd64 "distro" option for ppc64
+		host_cpu_variants="pwr10;pwr9;pwr8;pwr7;pwr6;g5;a2;generic"
+	fi
+
 	local mycmakeargs=(
 		-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON
 		-DENABLE_HSA=OFF
 		-DENABLE_ICD=ON
 		-DENABLE_POCL_BUILDING=ON
-		-DKERNELLIB_HOST_CPU_VARIANTS=distro
+		-DKERNELLIB_HOST_CPU_VARIANTS="$host_cpu_variants"
 		-DPOCL_ICD_ABSOLUTE_PATH=ON
 		-DSTATIC_LLVM=OFF
 		-DWITH_LLVM_CONFIG=$(get_llvm_prefix -d "${LLVM_MAX_SLOT}")/bin/llvm-config