diff --git a/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/CommonArgs.cpp b/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/CommonArgs.cpp
--- a/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/CommonArgs.cpp
+++ b/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/CommonArgs.cpp
@@ -572,9 +572,10 @@
   }
 
   if (Args.hasFlag(options::OPT_fdata_sections, options::OPT_fno_data_sections,
-                   UseSeparateSections)) {
-    CmdArgs.push_back("-plugin-opt=-data-sections");
-  }
+                   UseSeparateSections))
+    CmdArgs.push_back("-plugin-opt=-data-sections=1");
+  else if (Args.hasArg(options::OPT_fno_data_sections))
+    CmdArgs.push_back("-plugin-opt=-data-sections=0");
 
   // Pass an option to enable split machine functions.
   if (auto *A = Args.getLastArg(options::OPT_fsplit_machine_functions,
diff --git a/clang/test/Driver/lto-data-sections.c b/clang/test/Driver/lto-data-sections.c
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clang/test/Driver/lto-data-sections.c
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+// RUN: touch %t.o
+// RUN: %clang %t.o -### -flto 2>&1 | FileCheck %s
+// RUN: %clang %t.o -### -flto 2>&1 -fdata-sections | FileCheck %s \
+// RUN:   --check-prefix=CHECK-DATA-SECTIONS
+// RUN: %clang %t.o -### -flto 2>&1 -fno-data-sections | FileCheck %s \
+// RUN:   --check-prefix=CHECK-NO-DATA-SECTIONS
+
+// CHECK-NOT: "-plugin-opt=-data-sections"
+// CHECK-DATA-SECTIONS: "-plugin-opt=-data-sections=1"
+// CHECK-NO-DATA-SECTIONS: "-plugin-opt=-data-sections=0"
diff --git a/llvm/lib/LTO/LTOCodeGenerator.cpp b/llvm/lib/LTO/LTOCodeGenerator.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/LTO/LTOCodeGenerator.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/LTO/LTOCodeGenerator.cpp
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 #include "llvm/Analysis/TargetLibraryInfo.h"
 #include "llvm/Analysis/TargetTransformInfo.h"
 #include "llvm/Bitcode/BitcodeWriter.h"
+#include "llvm/CodeGen/CommandFlags.h"
 #include "llvm/CodeGen/ParallelCG.h"
 #include "llvm/CodeGen/TargetSubtargetInfo.h"
 #include "llvm/Config/config.h"
@@ -344,6 +345,14 @@
       Config.CPU = "cyclone";
   }
 
+  // If data-sections is not explicitly set or unset, set data-sections by
+  // default for ELF and XCOFF to match the behaviour of lld and gold plugin.
+  llvm::Triple::ObjectFormatType ObjectFormat = Triple.getObjectFormat();
+  if (!codegen::getExplicitDataSections() &&
+      (ObjectFormat == llvm::Triple::ObjectFormatType::ELF ||
+       ObjectFormat == llvm::Triple::ObjectFormatType::XCOFF))
+    Config.Options.DataSections = true;
+
   TargetMach = createTargetMachine();
   assert(TargetMach && "Unable to create target machine");
 
diff --git a/llvm/test/LTO/PowerPC/data-sections-aix.ll b/llvm/test/LTO/PowerPC/data-sections-aix.ll
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/llvm/test/LTO/PowerPC/data-sections-aix.ll
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+; RUN: rm -rf %t
+; RUN: mkdir %t
+; RUN: llvm-as %s -o %t/bc.bc
+; RUN: llvm-lto -exported-symbol var -O0 %t/bc.bc -o %t/default.o
+; RUN: llvm-lto -exported-symbol var -O0 --data-sections=true %t/bc.bc -o \
+; RUN:   %t/data-sections.o
+; RUN: llvm-lto -exported-symbol var -O0 --data-sections=false %t/bc.bc -o \
+; RUN:   %t/no-data-sections.o
+; RUN: obj2yaml %t/default.o | FileCheck --match-full-lines %s
+; RUN: obj2yaml %t/data-sections.o | FileCheck --match-full-lines %s
+; RUN: obj2yaml %t/no-data-sections.o | FileCheck --match-full-lines \
+; RUN:   --check-prefix CHECK-NO-DATA-SECTIONS %s
+
+target triple = "powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0"
+
+@var = global i32 0
+
+; CHECK:                  Symbols:
+; CHECK-NOT:                - Name: .data
+
+; CHECK-NO-DATA-SECTIONS: Symbols:
+; CHECK-NO-DATA-SECTIONS:   - Name: .data
diff --git a/llvm/test/LTO/PowerPC/data-sections-linux.ll b/llvm/test/LTO/PowerPC/data-sections-linux.ll
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/llvm/test/LTO/PowerPC/data-sections-linux.ll
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+; RUN: rm -rf %t
+; RUN: mkdir %t
+; RUN: llvm-as %s -o %t/bc.bc
+; RUN: llvm-lto -exported-symbol var -O0 %t/bc.bc -o %t/default.o
+; RUN: llvm-lto -exported-symbol var -O0 --data-sections=true %t/bc.bc -o \
+; RUN:   %t/data-sections.o
+; RUN: llvm-lto -exported-symbol var -O0 --data-sections=false %t/bc.bc -o \
+; RUN:   %t/no-data-sections.o
+; RUN: obj2yaml %t/default.o | FileCheck --match-full-lines %s
+; RUN: obj2yaml %t/data-sections.o | FileCheck --match-full-lines %s
+; RUN: obj2yaml %t/no-data-sections.o | FileCheck --match-full-lines \
+; RUN:   --check-prefix CHECK-NO-DATA-SECTIONS %s
+
+target triple = "powerpc64le-unknown-linux-gnu"
+
+@var = global i32 0
+
+; CHECK:                       Symbols:
+; CHECK:                         - Name:    var
+; CHECK-NEXT:                      Type:    STT_OBJECT
+; CHECK-NEXT:                      Section: .bss.var
+
+; CHECK-NO-DATA-SECTIONS:      Symbols:
+; CHECK-NO-DATA-SECTIONS:        - Name:    var
+; CHECK-NO-DATA-SECTIONS-NEXT:     Type:    STT_OBJECT
+; CHECK-NO-DATA-SECTIONS-NEXT:     Section: .bss