diff --git a/intern/cycles/util/util_ies.cpp b/intern/cycles/util/util_ies.cpp
index e068957325b..e1de2e0c6e4 100644
--- a/intern/cycles/util/util_ies.cpp
+++ b/intern/cycles/util/util_ies.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,13 @@
 
 CCL_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
 
+// NOTE: For some reason gcc-7.2 does not instantiate this versio of allocator
+// gere (used in IESTextParser). Works fine for gcc-6, gcc-7.3 and gcc-8.
+//
+// TODO(sergey): Get to the root of this issue, or confirm this i a compiler
+// issue.
+template class GuardedAllocator<char>;
+
 bool IESFile::load(ustring ies)
 {
 	clear();