diff --git a/virtcontainers/qemu.go b/virtcontainers/qemu.go
index 882294ad39..262928e7ad 100644
--- a/virtcontainers/qemu.go
+++ b/virtcontainers/qemu.go
@@ -64,6 +64,9 @@ const qmpSocket = "qmp.sock"
 
 const defaultConsole = "console.sock"
 
+var qemuMajorVersion int
+var qemuMinorVersion int
+
 // agnostic list of kernel parameters
 var defaultKernelParameters = []Param{
 	{"panic", "1"},
@@ -456,6 +459,8 @@ func (q *qemu) waitSandbox(timeout int) error {
 	}
 
 	q.qmpMonitorCh.qmp = qmp
+	qemuMajorVersion = ver.Major
+	qemuMinorVersion = ver.Minor
 
 	q.Logger().WithFields(logrus.Fields{
 		"qmp-major-version": ver.Major,
diff --git a/virtcontainers/qemu_ppc64le.go b/virtcontainers/qemu_ppc64le.go
index 930cc3fe95..ba259389eb 100644
--- a/virtcontainers/qemu_ppc64le.go
+++ b/virtcontainers/qemu_ppc64le.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	govmmQemu "github.com/intel/govmm/qemu"
 	"github.com/kata-containers/runtime/virtcontainers/device/drivers"
 	"github.com/kata-containers/runtime/virtcontainers/utils"
+	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
 type qemuPPC64le struct {
@@ -54,6 +55,11 @@ var supportedQemuMachines = []govmmQemu.Machine{
 	},
 }
 
+// Logger returns a logrus logger appropriate for logging qemu messages
+func (q *qemuPPC64le) Logger() *logrus.Entry {
+	return virtLog.WithField("subsystem", "qemu")
+}
+
 // MaxQemuVCPUs returns the maximum number of vCPUs supported
 func MaxQemuVCPUs() uint32 {
 	return uint32(128)
@@ -105,12 +111,14 @@ func (q *qemuPPC64le) cpuModel() string {
 
 func (q *qemuPPC64le) memoryTopology(memoryMb, hostMemoryMb uint64) govmmQemu.Memory {
 
-	if hostMemoryMb > defaultMemMaxPPC64le {
-		hostMemoryMb = defaultMemMaxPPC64le
-	} else {
-		// align hostMemoryMb to 256MB multiples
+	if qemuMajorVersion >= 2 && qemuMinorVersion >= 10 {
+		q.Logger().Debug("Aligning maxmem to multiples of 256MB. Assumption: Kernel Version >= 4.11")
 		hostMemoryMb -= (hostMemoryMb % 256)
+	} else {
+		q.Logger().Debug("Restricting maxmem to 32GB as Qemu Version < 2.10, Assumption: Kernel Version >= 4.11")
+		hostMemoryMb = defaultMemMaxPPC64le
 	}
+
 	return genericMemoryTopology(memoryMb, hostMemoryMb)
 }