diff --git a/lib/tokenize.cpp b/lib/tokenize.cpp
index e26744aeb..52cd55162 100644
--- a/lib/tokenize.cpp
+++ b/lib/tokenize.cpp
@@ -1860,8 +1860,14 @@ void Tokenizer::combineOperators()
 
             // combine +-*/ and =
             if (c2 == '=' && (std::strchr("+-*/%|^=!<>", c1))) {
-                if (cpp && Token::Match(tok->tokAt(-2), "< %any% >"))
-                    continue;
+                // skip templates
+                if (cpp && tok->str() == ">") {
+                    const Token *opening = tok->findOpeningBracket();
+                    if (opening) {
+                        if (Token::Match(opening->previous(), "%name%"))
+                            continue;
+                    }
+                }
                 tok->str(tok->str() + c2);
                 tok->deleteNext();
                 continue;
diff --git a/test/testsimplifytemplate.cpp b/test/testsimplifytemplate.cpp
index ddf4a9f9f..a347f5b41 100644
--- a/test/testsimplifytemplate.cpp
+++ b/test/testsimplifytemplate.cpp
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ private:
         TEST_CASE(template97);
         TEST_CASE(template98); // #8959
         TEST_CASE(template99); // #8960
+        TEST_CASE(template100); // #8967
         TEST_CASE(template_specialization_1);  // #7868 - template specialization template <typename T> struct S<C<T>> {..};
         TEST_CASE(template_specialization_2);  // #7868 - template specialization template <typename T> struct S<C<T>> {..};
         TEST_CASE(template_enum);  // #6299 Syntax error in complex enum declaration (including template)
@@ -2101,6 +2102,21 @@ private:
         ASSERT_EQUALS(exp, tok(code));
     }
 
+    void template100() { // #8967
+        const char code[] = "enum class Device { I2C0, I2C1 };\n"
+                            "template <Device D>\n"
+                            "const char* deviceFile;\n"
+                            "template <>\n"
+                            "const char* deviceFile<Device::I2C0> = \"/tmp/i2c-0\";\n";
+
+        const char exp[] = "enum class Device { I2C0 , I2C1 } ; "
+                           "template < Device D > "
+                           "const char * deviceFile ; "
+                           "const char * deviceFile<Device::I2C0> ; deviceFile<Device::I2C0> = \"/tmp/i2c-0\" ;";
+
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(exp, tok(code));
+    }
+
     void template_specialization_1() {  // #7868 - template specialization template <typename T> struct S<C<T>> {..};
         const char code[] = "template <typename T> struct C {};\n"
                             "template <typename T> struct S {a};\n"