diff --git a/llvm/tools/llvm-exegesis/lib/LlvmState.cpp b/llvm/tools/llvm-exegesis/lib/LlvmState.cpp
index 2c6f5d275cf00..d7bf9c1f77b89 100644
--- a/llvm/tools/llvm-exegesis/lib/LlvmState.cpp
+++ b/llvm/tools/llvm-exegesis/lib/LlvmState.cpp
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ Expected<LLVMState> LLVMState::Create(std::string TripleName,
 
   std::unique_ptr<MCSubtargetInfo> STI(
       TheTarget->createMCSubtargetInfo(TheTriple, CpuName, ""));
+  if (!STI) {
+    return make_error<StringError>("unable to create subtarget info",
+                                   inconvertibleErrorCode());
+  }
+
   assert(STI && "Unable to create subtarget info!");
   if (!STI->isCPUStringValid(CpuName)) {
     return make_error<StringError>(Twine("invalid CPU name (")