diff --git a/drivers/mfd/ucb1x00-core.c b/drivers/mfd/ucb1x00-core.c
index 8ebda97981e..febc90cdef7 100644
--- a/drivers/mfd/ucb1x00-core.c
+++ b/drivers/mfd/ucb1x00-core.c
@@ -148,16 +148,22 @@ static int ucb1x00_gpio_direction_output(struct gpio_chip *chip, unsigned offset
 {
 	struct ucb1x00 *ucb = container_of(chip, struct ucb1x00, gpio);
 	unsigned long flags;
+	unsigned old, mask = 1 << offset;
 
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&ucb->io_lock, flags);
-	ucb->io_dir |= (1 << offset);
-	ucb1x00_reg_write(ucb, UCB_IO_DIR, ucb->io_dir);
-
+	old = ucb->io_out;
 	if (value)
-		ucb->io_out |= 1 << offset;
+		ucb->io_out |= mask;
 	else
-		ucb->io_out &= ~(1 << offset);
-	ucb1x00_reg_write(ucb, UCB_IO_DATA, ucb->io_out);
+		ucb->io_out &= ~mask;
+
+	if (old != ucb->io_out)
+		ucb1x00_reg_write(ucb, UCB_IO_DATA, ucb->io_out);
+
+	if (!(ucb->io_dir & mask)) {
+		ucb->io_dir |= mask;
+		ucb1x00_reg_write(ucb, UCB_IO_DIR, ucb->io_dir);
+	}
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&ucb->io_lock, flags);
 
 	return 0;