diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-cuda/fattn-mma-f16.cuh b/ggml/src/ggml-cuda/fattn-mma-f16.cuh
index 925f39e8..e230f6d4 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-cuda/fattn-mma-f16.cuh
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-cuda/fattn-mma-f16.cuh
@@ -652,9 +652,12 @@ static __device__ __forceinline__ void flash_attn_ext_f16_iter(
         float KQ_max_scale[cols_per_thread];
 #pragma unroll
         for (int col = 0; col < cols_per_thread; ++col) {
-            KQ_max_scale[col] = expf(KQ_max[col] - KQ_max_new[col]);
+            const float KQ_max_diff = KQ_max[col] - KQ_max_new[col];
+            KQ_max_scale[col] = expf(KQ_max_diff);
             KQ_max[col] = KQ_max_new[col];
 
+            *((uint32_t *) &KQ_max_scale[col]) *= KQ_max_diff >= SOFTMAX_FTZ_THRESHOLD;
+
             // Scale previous KQ_rowsum to account for a potential increase in KQ_max:
             KQ_rowsum[col] = KQ_max_scale[col]*KQ_rowsum[col] + KQ_rowsum_add[col];
         }