diff --git a/drivers/spi/spi_imx.c b/drivers/spi/spi_imx.c
index 0480d8bb19d3..014af69fc1bb 100644
--- a/drivers/spi/spi_imx.c
+++ b/drivers/spi/spi_imx.c
@@ -779,7 +779,8 @@ static irqreturn_t interrupt_transfer(struct driver_data *drv_data)
 
 			/* Read trailing bytes */
 			limit = loops_per_jiffy << 1;
-			while ((read(drv_data) == 0) && limit--);
+			while ((read(drv_data) == 0) && --limit)
+				cpu_relax();
 
 			if (limit == 0)
 				dev_err(&drv_data->pdev->dev,