const char *indexing_kind = structurized ? "struct" : "raw";
        char name[256], type_name[8];
 
+       /* D16 is only supported on gfx8+ */
+       assert((channel_type != ctx->f16 && channel_type != ctx->i16) ||
+              ctx->chip_class >= GFX8);
+
        LLVMTypeRef type = func > 1 ? LLVMVectorType(channel_type, func) : channel_type;
        ac_build_type_name_for_intr(type, type_name, sizeof(type_name));
 
                                         LLVMValueRef voffset,
                                         unsigned num_channels,
                                         unsigned cache_policy,
-                                        bool can_speculate)
+                                        bool can_speculate,
+                                        bool d16)
 {
        return ac_build_buffer_load_common(ctx, rsrc, vindex, voffset,
-                                          ctx->i32_0, num_channels, ctx->f32,
+                                          ctx->i32_0, num_channels,
+                                          d16 ? ctx->f16 : ctx->f32,
                                           cache_policy, can_speculate,
                                           true, true);
 }
 
                                         LLVMValueRef voffset,
                                         unsigned num_channels,
                                         unsigned cache_policy,
-                                        bool can_speculate);
+                                        bool can_speculate,
+                                        bool d16);
 
 LLVMValueRef
 ac_build_tbuffer_load_short(struct ac_llvm_context *ctx,
 
        if (instr->sampler_dim == GLSL_SAMPLER_DIM_BUF) {
                unsigned mask = nir_ssa_def_components_read(&instr->dest.ssa);
 
+               assert(instr->dest.is_ssa);
                return ac_build_buffer_load_format(&ctx->ac,
                                                   args->resource,
                                                   args->coords[0],
                                                   ctx->ac.i32_0,
                                                   util_last_bit(mask),
-                                                  0, true);
+                                                  0, true,
+                                                  instr->dest.ssa.bit_size == 16);
        }
 
        args->opcode = ac_image_sample;
                vindex = LLVMBuildExtractElement(ctx->ac.builder, get_src(ctx, instr->src[1]),
                                                 ctx->ac.i32_0, "");
 
+               assert(instr->dest.is_ssa);
                bool can_speculate = access & ACCESS_CAN_REORDER;
                res = ac_build_buffer_load_format(&ctx->ac, rsrc, vindex,
                                                  ctx->ac.i32_0, num_channels,
                                                  args.cache_policy,
-                                                 can_speculate);
+                                                 can_speculate,
+                                                 instr->dest.ssa.bit_size == 16);
                res = ac_build_expand_to_vec4(&ctx->ac, res, num_channels);
 
                res = ac_trim_vector(&ctx->ac, res, instr->dest.ssa.num_components);
 
    if (key->opt.cs_indexed) {
       for (unsigned i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
          index[i] = ac_build_buffer_load_format(&ctx->ac, input_indexbuf, index[i], ctx->ac.i32_0,
-                                                1, 0, true);
+                                                1, 0, true, false);
          index[i] = ac_to_integer(&ctx->ac, index[i]);
       }
    }
 
    for (unsigned i = 0; i < num_fetches; ++i) {
       LLVMValueRef voffset = LLVMConstInt(ctx->ac.i32, fetch_stride * i, 0);
       fetches[i] = ac_build_buffer_load_format(&ctx->ac, vb_desc, vertex_index, voffset,
-                                               channels_per_fetch, 0, true);
+                                               channels_per_fetch, 0, true, false);
    }
 
    if (num_fetches == 1 && channels_per_fetch > 1) {