diff --git a/arch/xtensa/Kconfig.debug b/arch/xtensa/Kconfig.debug
index 53ae08eef86d..8430af27de0a 100644
--- a/arch/xtensa/Kconfig.debug
+++ b/arch/xtensa/Kconfig.debug
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ config DEBUG_TLB_SANITY
 
 config LD_NO_RELAX
 	bool "Disable linker relaxation"
-	default n
+	default y
 	help
 	  Enable this function to disable link-time optimizations.
 	  The default linker behavior is to combine identical literal
diff --git a/arch/xtensa/configs/iss_defconfig b/arch/xtensa/configs/iss_defconfig
index 6a7593b6784d..e4d193e7a300 100644
--- a/arch/xtensa/configs/iss_defconfig
+++ b/arch/xtensa/configs/iss_defconfig
@@ -757,3 +757,4 @@ CONFIG_GENERIC_FIND_LAST_BIT=y
 CONFIG_HAS_IOMEM=y
 CONFIG_HAS_DMA=y
 CONFIG_NLATTR=y
+CONFIG_LD_NO_RELAX=y