diff --git a/src/host/buildvm_asm.c b/src/host/buildvm_asm.c
index 1a633602..ffd14903 100644
--- a/src/host/buildvm_asm.c
+++ b/src/host/buildvm_asm.c
@@ -218,7 +218,8 @@ static void emit_asm_label(BuildCtx *ctx, const char *name, int size, int isfunc
   case BUILD_machasm:
     fprintf(ctx->fp,
       "\n\t.private_extern %s\n"
-      "%s:\n", name, name);
+      "\t.no_dead_strip %s\n"
+      "%s:\n", name, name, name);
     break;
   default:
     break;