diff --git a/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/include/Mapping.h b/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/include/Mapping.h
--- a/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/include/Mapping.h
+++ b/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/include/Mapping.h
@@ -37,6 +37,11 @@
 bool isMainThreadInGenericMode();
 bool isMainThreadInGenericMode(bool IsSPMD);
 
+/// Return true if this thread should be used for single threaded
+/// initialization tasks. We pick a special thread to ensure there are no
+/// races between the initialization and the first read of initialized state.
+bool isInitializationThread(bool IsSPMD);
+
 /// Return true if the executing thread has the lowest Id of the active threads
 /// in the warp.
 bool isLeaderInWarp();
diff --git a/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/src/Mapping.cpp b/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/src/Mapping.cpp
--- a/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/src/Mapping.cpp
+++ b/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/src/Mapping.cpp
@@ -178,6 +178,12 @@
   return mapping::isMainThreadInGenericMode(mapping::isSPMDMode());
 }
 
+bool mapping::isInitializationThread(bool IsSPMD) {
+  if (IsSPMD)
+    return mapping::getThreadIdInBlock() == 0;
+  return mapping::isMainThreadInGenericMode(IsSPMD);
+}
+
 bool mapping::isLeaderInWarp() {
   __kmpc_impl_lanemask_t Active = mapping::activemask();
   __kmpc_impl_lanemask_t LaneMaskLT = mapping::lanemaskLT();
@@ -220,7 +226,7 @@
 static int SHARED(IsSPMDMode);
 
 void mapping::init(bool IsSPMD) {
-  if (!mapping::getThreadIdInBlock())
+  if (mapping::isInitializationThread(IsSPMD))
     IsSPMDMode = IsSPMD;
 }
 
diff --git a/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/src/State.cpp b/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/src/State.cpp
--- a/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/src/State.cpp
+++ b/openmp/libomptarget/DeviceRTL/src/State.cpp
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@
 
 void state::init(bool IsSPMD) {
   SharedMemorySmartStack.init(IsSPMD);
-  if (!mapping::getThreadIdInBlock())
+  if (mapping::isInitializationThread(IsSPMD))
     TeamState.init(IsSPMD);
 
   ThreadStates[mapping::getThreadIdInBlock()] = nullptr;