diff --git a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-pmcmsp.c b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-pmcmsp.c
index ec27e27e8d06..dae8ac618a52 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-pmcmsp.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-pmcmsp.c
@@ -564,7 +564,7 @@ static int pmcmsptwi_master_xfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap,
 		 * TODO: We could potentially loop and retry in the case
 		 * of MSP_TWI_XFER_TIMEOUT.
 		 */
-		return -1;
+		return -EIO;
 	}
 
 	return num;