diff --git a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
index 45f09362ee7b..8a1889ccb883 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
@@ -3105,13 +3105,21 @@ int kvm_init(void *opaque, unsigned vcpu_size, unsigned vcpu_align,
 	int r;
 	int cpu;
 
-	r = kvm_irqfd_init();
-	if (r)
-		goto out_irqfd;
 	r = kvm_arch_init(opaque);
 	if (r)
 		goto out_fail;
 
+	/*
+	 * kvm_arch_init makes sure there's at most one caller
+	 * for architectures that support multiple implementations,
+	 * like intel and amd on x86.
+	 * kvm_arch_init must be called before kvm_irqfd_init to avoid creating
+	 * conflicts in case kvm is already setup for another implementation.
+	 */
+	r = kvm_irqfd_init();
+	if (r)
+		goto out_irqfd;
+
 	if (!zalloc_cpumask_var(&cpus_hardware_enabled, GFP_KERNEL)) {
 		r = -ENOMEM;
 		goto out_free_0;
@@ -3186,10 +3194,10 @@ out_free_1:
 out_free_0a:
 	free_cpumask_var(cpus_hardware_enabled);
 out_free_0:
-	kvm_arch_exit();
-out_fail:
 	kvm_irqfd_exit();
 out_irqfd:
+	kvm_arch_exit();
+out_fail:
 	return r;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(kvm_init);