diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 505767cede552..4ce80a5e84919 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -517,7 +517,7 @@ case $CFG_CPUTYPE in
         CFG_OSTYPE="${CFG_OSTYPE}eabihf"
         ;;
 
-    aarch64)
+    aarch64 | arm64)
         CFG_CPUTYPE=aarch64
         ;;
 
diff --git a/mk/cfg/aarch64-unknown-freebsd.mk b/mk/cfg/aarch64-unknown-freebsd.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..34aee77ae2107
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mk/cfg/aarch64-unknown-freebsd.mk
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# rustbuild-only target
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/bootstrap.py b/src/bootstrap/bootstrap.py
index bc8341102421b..27255b6910093 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/bootstrap.py
+++ b/src/bootstrap/bootstrap.py
@@ -379,6 +379,8 @@ def build_triple(self):
             ostype += 'eabihf'
         elif cputype == 'aarch64':
             cputype = 'aarch64'
+        elif cputype == 'arm64':
+            cputype = 'aarch64'
         elif cputype == 'mips':
             if sys.byteorder == 'big':
                 cputype = 'mips'
diff --git a/src/librustc_back/target/aarch64_unknown_freebsd.rs b/src/librustc_back/target/aarch64_unknown_freebsd.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..3c5d6308ee6ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/librustc_back/target/aarch64_unknown_freebsd.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+// Copyright 2017 The Rust Project Developers. See the COPYRIGHT
+// file at the top-level directory of this distribution and at
+// http://rust-lang.org/COPYRIGHT.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 <LICENSE-APACHE or
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0> or the MIT license
+// <LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT>, at your
+// option. This file may not be copied, modified, or distributed
+// except according to those terms.
+
+use target::{Target, TargetOptions, TargetResult};
+
+pub fn target() -> TargetResult {
+    let mut base = super::freebsd_base::opts();
+    base.max_atomic_width = Some(128);
+
+    // see #36994
+    base.exe_allocation_crate = "alloc_system".to_string();
+
+    Ok(Target {
+        llvm_target: "aarch64-unknown-freebsd".to_string(),
+        target_endian: "little".to_string(),
+        target_pointer_width: "64".to_string(),
+        data_layout: "e-m:e-i8:8:32-i16:16:32-i64:64-i128:128-n32:64-S128".to_string(),
+        arch: "aarch64".to_string(),
+        target_os: "freebsd".to_string(),
+        target_env: "".to_string(),
+        target_vendor: "unknown".to_string(),
+        options: TargetOptions {
+            abi_blacklist: super::arm_base::abi_blacklist(),
+            .. base
+        },
+    })
+}
diff --git a/src/librustc_back/target/mod.rs b/src/librustc_back/target/mod.rs
index d2b76b1d55a98..9e232bc7e1f2f 100644
--- a/src/librustc_back/target/mod.rs
+++ b/src/librustc_back/target/mod.rs
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ supported_targets! {
     ("armv7-linux-androideabi", armv7_linux_androideabi),
     ("aarch64-linux-android", aarch64_linux_android),
 
+    ("aarch64-unknown-freebsd", aarch64_unknown_freebsd),
     ("i686-unknown-freebsd", i686_unknown_freebsd),
     ("x86_64-unknown-freebsd", x86_64_unknown_freebsd),