diff --git a/libvirt/tests/src/libvirt_mem.py b/libvirt/tests/src/libvirt_mem.py
index 64abd0ece1..a1268545a0 100644
--- a/libvirt/tests/src/libvirt_mem.py
+++ b/libvirt/tests/src/libvirt_mem.py
@@ -239,8 +239,12 @@ def check_dom_xml(at_mem=False, dt_mem=False):
             xml_max_mem_rt = int(dom_xml.max_mem_rt)
             xml_max_mem = int(dom_xml.max_mem)
             xml_cur_mem = int(dom_xml.current_mem)
-            assert int(max_mem_rt) == xml_max_mem_rt
-
+            if 'ppc64' in arch:
+                # for arch ppc64 and hugepages, the run time max memory grows and never shrinks.
+                # libvirt rounded max memory boundaries to align with memory block size (usually 64 MiB or 128 MiB)
+                assert int(max_mem_rt) <= xml_max_mem_rt
+            else:
+                assert int(max_mem_rt) == xml_max_mem_rt
             # Check attached/detached memory
             logging.info("at_mem=%s,dt_mem=%s", at_mem, dt_mem)
             logging.info("detach_device is %s", detach_device)