diff --git a/tensorflow/compiler/tf2xla/kernels/pooling_ops.cc b/tensorflow/compiler/tf2xla/kernels/pooling_ops.cc
index 67d49eafcde..5f5cae8f176 100644
--- a/tensorflow/compiler/tf2xla/kernels/pooling_ops.cc
+++ b/tensorflow/compiler/tf2xla/kernels/pooling_ops.cc
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ limitations under the License.
 #include "tensorflow/core/framework/register_types.h"
 #include "tensorflow/core/framework/tensor.h"
 #include "tensorflow/core/kernels/pooling_ops_common.h"
+#include "tensorflow/core/platform/errors.h"
+#include "tensorflow/core/util/tensor_format.h"
 
 namespace tensorflow {
 namespace {
@@ -157,6 +159,13 @@ class MaxPoolOp : public PoolingOp {
     OP_REQUIRES_OK(ctx, ctx->GetAttr("data_format", &data_format_str));
     OP_REQUIRES(ctx, FormatFromString(data_format_str, &data_format_),
                 errors::InvalidArgument("Invalid data format"));
+    OP_REQUIRES(
+        ctx,
+        data_format_ != FORMAT_NCHW_VECT_C &&
+            data_format_ != FORMAT_NHWC_VECT_W,
+        errors::Unimplemented("XLA does not support the VECT_* data formats. "
+                              "Returning unimplemented from MaxPool to keep "
+                              "Tensorflow's intended optimized MaxPool here."));
   }
 
   void Compile(XlaOpKernelContext* ctx) override {
diff --git a/tensorflow/python/kernel_tests/pooling_ops_test.py b/tensorflow/python/kernel_tests/pooling_ops_test.py
index 2e47c50acef..c9b1e42d66b 100644
--- a/tensorflow/python/kernel_tests/pooling_ops_test.py
+++ b/tensorflow/python/kernel_tests/pooling_ops_test.py
@@ -605,6 +605,10 @@ class PoolingTest(test.TestCase):
         use_gpu=use_gpu)
 
   @test_util.run_deprecated_v1
+  @test_util.xla_allow_fallback(
+      "Allow VECT_* data formats on newer hardware versions which XLA does not"
+      " handle."
+  )
   def testMaxPooling(self):
     for use_gpu in True, False:
       self._testMaxPoolValidPadding(use_gpu)