diff --git a/include/simdjson/ppc64/stringparsing_defs.h b/include/simdjson/ppc64/stringparsing_defs.h
index e11910395..ee8945cf6 100644
--- a/include/simdjson/ppc64/stringparsing_defs.h
+++ b/include/simdjson/ppc64/stringparsing_defs.h
@@ -116,7 +116,8 @@ simdjson_inline escaping escaping::copy_and_find(const uint8_t *src, uint8_t *ds
   simd8<bool> is_backslash = (v == '\\');
   simd8<bool> is_control = (v < 32);
   return {
-    (is_backslash | is_quote | is_control).to_bitmask()
+    // We store it as a 64-bit bitmask even though we only need 16 bits.
+    uint64_t((is_backslash | is_quote | is_control).to_bitmask())
   };
 }