diff --git a/loopy/types.py b/loopy/types.py
index 8f0f310c305b3d5b24bd6e771b501bb6d9c69224..7deb7608d7ec8b45af31b1cabc666e87207b6fb8 100644
--- a/loopy/types.py
+++ b/loopy/types.py
@@ -211,6 +211,9 @@ def to_loopy_type(dtype, allow_auto=False, allow_none=False, for_atomic=False,
                 raise LoopyError("do not know how to convert '%s' to an atomic type"
                         % dtype)
 
+        if target and not dtype.target:
+            return dtype.with_target(target)
+
         return dtype
 
     elif numpy_dtype is not None:
diff --git a/test/test_loopy.py b/test/test_loopy.py
index 80af89f3bb09f2d2bf394279115acfa0fe928e2b..647f0d8d5a344f99d591c4071a64d22be8d85388 100644
--- a/test/test_loopy.py
+++ b/test/test_loopy.py
@@ -2927,6 +2927,14 @@ def test_backwards_dep_printing_and_error():
     print(knl)
 
 
+def test_to_loopy_type_target_specification():
+    arg = lp.GlobalArg('test', dtype=np.int32, shape=(1,))
+    # convert dtype w/ to_loopy_type
+    from loopy.types import to_loopy_type
+    assert to_loopy_type(arg.dtype, target=lp.OpenCLTarget()).target == \
+        lp.OpenCLTarget()
+
+
 def test_dump_binary(ctx_factory):
     ctx = ctx_factory()