diff --git a/tests/hwsim/build.sh b/tests/hwsim/build.sh
index 301c330d2..b35e0f1c1 100755
--- a/tests/hwsim/build.sh
+++ b/tests/hwsim/build.sh
@@ -72,4 +72,7 @@ if [ $use_lcov -eq 1 ]; then
 fi
 
 make clean > /dev/null
+if [ -z $FIPSLD_CC ]; then
+export FIPSLD_CC=gcc
+fi
 make QUIET=1 -j8