diff --git a/src/rtlib.jl b/src/rtlib.jl
index 1d8c00f6..c790b23c 100644
--- a/src/rtlib.jl
+++ b/src/rtlib.jl
@@ -121,6 +121,8 @@ end
 
 const runtime_lock = ReentrantLock()
 
+const runtime_cache = Dict{String, Vector{UInt8}}()
+
 @locked function load_runtime(@nospecialize(job::CompilerJob))
     global compile_cache
     if compile_cache === nothing    # during precompilation
@@ -135,15 +137,14 @@ const runtime_lock = ReentrantLock()
         name = "runtime_$(slug).bc"
         path = joinpath(compile_cache, name)
 
-        lib = try
-            if ispath(path)
-                open(path) do io
-                    parse(LLVM.Module, read(io))
-                end
+        # cache the runtime library on disk and in memory
+        lib = if haskey(runtime_cache, slug)
+            parse(LLVM.Module, runtime_cache[slug])
+        elseif ispath(path)
+            runtime_cache[slug] = open(path) do io
+                read(io)
             end
-        catch ex
-            @warn "Failed to load GPU runtime library at $path" exception=(ex, catch_backtrace())
-            nothing
+            parse(LLVM.Module, runtime_cache[slug])
         end
 
         if lib === nothing
diff --git a/src/spirv.jl b/src/spirv.jl
index 2015125d..2afd4f60 100644
--- a/src/spirv.jl
+++ b/src/spirv.jl
@@ -148,32 +148,33 @@ end
             cmd = `$(cmd) --spirv-max-version=$(job.config.target.version.major).$(job.config.target.version.minor)`
         end
     end
-    proc = run(ignorestatus(cmd))
-    if !success(proc)
+    try
+        run(cmd)
+    catch e
         error("""Failed to translate LLVM code to SPIR-V.
                  If you think this is a bug, please file an issue and attach $(input).""")
     end
 
     # validate
     if job.config.target.validate
-       cmd = `$(SPIRV_Tools_jll.spirv_val()) $translated`
-       proc = run(ignorestatus(cmd))
-       if !success(proc)
-            run(`$(SPIRV_Tools_jll.spirv_dis()) $translated -o -`)
+        try
+            run(`$(SPIRV_Tools_jll.spirv_val()) $translated`)
+        catch e
             error("""Failed to validate generated SPIR-V.
                      If you think this is a bug, please file an issue and attach $(input) and $(translated).""")
-       end
+        end
     end
 
     # optimize
     optimized = tempname(cleanup=false) * ".spv"
     if job.config.target.optimize
-        cmd = `$(SPIRV_Tools_jll.spirv_opt()) -O --skip-validation $translated -o $optimized`
-       proc = run(ignorestatus(cmd))
-       if !success(proc)
-           error("""Failed to optimize generated SPIR-V.
-                    If you think this is a bug, please file an issue and attach $(input) and $(translated).""")
-       end
+        try
+            run(```$(SPIRV_Tools_jll.spirv_opt()) -O --skip-validation
+                                                  $translated -o $optimized```)
+        catch
+            error("""Failed to optimize generated SPIR-V.
+                     If you think this is a bug, please file an issue and attach $(input) and $(translated).""")
+        end
     else
         cp(translated, optimized)
     end