diff --git a/interp/interp.go b/interp/interp.go
index b58d7f96..38001a06 100644
--- a/interp/interp.go
+++ b/interp/interp.go
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ type runner struct {
 	targetData    llvm.TargetData
 	builder       llvm.Builder
 	pointerSize   uint32                   // cached pointer size from the TargetData
+	i8ptrType     llvm.Type                // often used type so created in advance
+	maxAlign      int                      // maximum alignment of an object, alignment of runtime.alloc() result
 	debug         bool                     // log debug messages
 	pkgName       string                   // package name of the currently executing package
 	functionCache map[llvm.Value]*function // cache of compiled functions
@@ -43,6 +45,8 @@ func Run(mod llvm.Module, debug bool) error {
 		start:         time.Now(),
 	}
 	r.pointerSize = uint32(r.targetData.PointerSize())
+	r.i8ptrType = llvm.PointerType(mod.Context().Int8Type(), 0)
+	r.maxAlign = r.targetData.PrefTypeAlignment(r.i8ptrType) // assume pointers are maximally aligned (this is not always the case)
 
 	initAll := mod.NamedFunction("runtime.initAll")
 	bb := initAll.EntryBasicBlock()
diff --git a/interp/memory.go b/interp/memory.go
index 5a2343c4..589c0c6f 100644
--- a/interp/memory.go
+++ b/interp/memory.go
@@ -522,6 +522,7 @@ func (v pointerValue) toLLVMValue(llvmType llvm.Type, mem *memoryView) llvm.Valu
 			globalType := initializer.Type()
 			llvmValue = llvm.AddGlobal(mem.r.mod, globalType, obj.globalName)
 			llvmValue.SetInitializer(initializer)
+			llvmValue.SetAlignment(mem.r.maxAlign)
 			obj.llvmGlobal = llvmValue
 			mem.put(v.index(), obj)
 		} else {
@@ -795,7 +796,6 @@ func (v *mapValue) toLLVMValue(hashmapType llvm.Type, mem *memoryView) llvm.Valu
 
 	// Convert these buckets into LLVM global variables.
 	ctx := v.r.mod.Context()
-	i8ptrType := llvm.PointerType(ctx.Int8Type(), 0)
 	var nextBucket llvm.Value
 	for i := len(buckets) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
 		bucket = buckets[i]
@@ -804,9 +804,9 @@ func (v *mapValue) toLLVMValue(hashmapType llvm.Type, mem *memoryView) llvm.Valu
 	}
 	firstBucket := nextBucket
 	if firstBucket.IsNil() {
-		firstBucket = llvm.ConstNull(i8ptrType)
+		firstBucket = llvm.ConstNull(mem.r.i8ptrType)
 	} else {
-		firstBucket = llvm.ConstBitCast(firstBucket, i8ptrType)
+		firstBucket = llvm.ConstBitCast(firstBucket, mem.r.i8ptrType)
 	}
 
 	// Create the hashmap itself, pointing to these buckets.