diff --git a/default-configs/devices/arm-softmmu.mak b/default-configs/devices/arm-softmmu.mak
index 08a32123b4..0500156a0c 100644
--- a/default-configs/devices/arm-softmmu.mak
+++ b/default-configs/devices/arm-softmmu.mak
@@ -42,4 +42,5 @@ CONFIG_FSL_IMX25=y
 CONFIG_FSL_IMX7=y
 CONFIG_FSL_IMX6UL=y
 CONFIG_SEMIHOSTING=y
+CONFIG_ARM_COMPATIBLE_SEMIHOSTING=y
 CONFIG_ALLWINNER_H3=y
diff --git a/default-configs/targets/aarch64-linux-user.mak b/default-configs/targets/aarch64-linux-user.mak
index 163c9209f4..4713253709 100644
--- a/default-configs/targets/aarch64-linux-user.mak
+++ b/default-configs/targets/aarch64-linux-user.mak
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@ TARGET_ARCH=aarch64
 TARGET_BASE_ARCH=arm
 TARGET_XML_FILES= gdb-xml/aarch64-core.xml gdb-xml/aarch64-fpu.xml gdb-xml/arm-core.xml gdb-xml/arm-vfp.xml gdb-xml/arm-vfp3.xml gdb-xml/arm-neon.xml gdb-xml/arm-m-profile.xml
 TARGET_HAS_BFLT=y
+CONFIG_ARM_COMPATIBLE_SEMIHOSTING=y
diff --git a/default-configs/targets/aarch64_be-linux-user.mak b/default-configs/targets/aarch64_be-linux-user.mak
index 4c953cf8c5..fae831558d 100644
--- a/default-configs/targets/aarch64_be-linux-user.mak
+++ b/default-configs/targets/aarch64_be-linux-user.mak
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ TARGET_BASE_ARCH=arm
 TARGET_WORDS_BIGENDIAN=y
 TARGET_XML_FILES= gdb-xml/aarch64-core.xml gdb-xml/aarch64-fpu.xml gdb-xml/arm-core.xml gdb-xml/arm-vfp.xml gdb-xml/arm-vfp3.xml gdb-xml/arm-neon.xml gdb-xml/arm-m-profile.xml
 TARGET_HAS_BFLT=y
+CONFIG_ARM_COMPATIBLE_SEMIHOSTING=y
diff --git a/default-configs/targets/arm-linux-user.mak b/default-configs/targets/arm-linux-user.mak
index c7cd872e86..e741ffd4d3 100644
--- a/default-configs/targets/arm-linux-user.mak
+++ b/default-configs/targets/arm-linux-user.mak
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ TARGET_SYSTBL_ABI=common,oabi
 TARGET_SYSTBL=syscall.tbl
 TARGET_XML_FILES= gdb-xml/arm-core.xml gdb-xml/arm-vfp.xml gdb-xml/arm-vfp3.xml gdb-xml/arm-neon.xml gdb-xml/arm-m-profile.xml
 TARGET_HAS_BFLT=y
+CONFIG_ARM_COMPATIBLE_SEMIHOSTING=y
diff --git a/default-configs/targets/armeb-linux-user.mak b/default-configs/targets/armeb-linux-user.mak
index 79bf10e99b..255e44e8b0 100644
--- a/default-configs/targets/armeb-linux-user.mak
+++ b/default-configs/targets/armeb-linux-user.mak
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ TARGET_SYSTBL=syscall.tbl
 TARGET_WORDS_BIGENDIAN=y
 TARGET_XML_FILES= gdb-xml/arm-core.xml gdb-xml/arm-vfp.xml gdb-xml/arm-vfp3.xml gdb-xml/arm-neon.xml gdb-xml/arm-m-profile.xml
 TARGET_HAS_BFLT=y
+CONFIG_ARM_COMPATIBLE_SEMIHOSTING=y
diff --git a/hw/semihosting/Kconfig b/hw/semihosting/Kconfig
index efe0a30734..eaf3a20ef5 100644
--- a/hw/semihosting/Kconfig
+++ b/hw/semihosting/Kconfig
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
 
 config SEMIHOSTING
        bool
+
+config ARM_COMPATIBLE_SEMIHOSTING
+       bool
+       select SEMIHOSTING
diff --git a/target/arm/arm-semi.c b/hw/semihosting/arm-compat-semi.c
similarity index 100%
rename from target/arm/arm-semi.c
rename to hw/semihosting/arm-compat-semi.c
diff --git a/hw/semihosting/meson.build b/hw/semihosting/meson.build
index f40ac574c4..ea8090abe3 100644
--- a/hw/semihosting/meson.build
+++ b/hw/semihosting/meson.build
@@ -2,3 +2,6 @@ specific_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_SEMIHOSTING', if_true: files(
   'config.c',
   'console.c',
 ))
+
+specific_ss.add(when: ['CONFIG_ARM_COMPATIBLE_SEMIHOSTING'],
+		if_true: files('arm-compat-semi.c'))
diff --git a/linux-user/arm/meson.build b/linux-user/arm/meson.build
index 432984b58e..5a93c925cf 100644
--- a/linux-user/arm/meson.build
+++ b/linux-user/arm/meson.build
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-linux_user_ss.add(when: 'TARGET_AARCH64', if_true: files('semihost.c'))
-linux_user_ss.add(when: 'TARGET_ARM', if_true: files('semihost.c'))
-
 subdir('nwfpe')
 
 syscall_nr_generators += {
diff --git a/linux-user/meson.build b/linux-user/meson.build
index 2b94e4ba24..7fe28d659e 100644
--- a/linux-user/meson.build
+++ b/linux-user/meson.build
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ linux_user_ss.add(rt)
 
 linux_user_ss.add(when: 'TARGET_HAS_BFLT', if_true: files('flatload.c'))
 linux_user_ss.add(when: 'TARGET_I386', if_true: files('vm86.c'))
+linux_user_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_ARM_COMPATIBLE_SEMIHOSTING', if_true: files('semihost.c'))
 
 
 syscall_nr_generators = {}
diff --git a/linux-user/arm/semihost.c b/linux-user/semihost.c
similarity index 100%
rename from linux-user/arm/semihost.c
rename to linux-user/semihost.c
diff --git a/target/arm/meson.build b/target/arm/meson.build
index f5de2a77b8..15b936c101 100644
--- a/target/arm/meson.build
+++ b/target/arm/meson.build
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@ arm_ss.add(files(
 ))
 arm_ss.add(zlib)
 
-arm_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_TCG', if_true: files('arm-semi.c'))
-
 arm_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_KVM', if_true: files('kvm.c', 'kvm64.c'), if_false: files('kvm-stub.c'))
 
 arm_ss.add(when: 'TARGET_AARCH64', if_true: files(