diff --git a/tinygrad/codegen/kernel.py b/tinygrad/codegen/kernel.py
index 6ab922e3bb..597726b160 100644
--- a/tinygrad/codegen/kernel.py
+++ b/tinygrad/codegen/kernel.py
@@ -799,7 +799,7 @@ def _assert_valid_uop(uop:UOp, st:ShapeTracker, sts:Dict[UOp, ShapeTracker]) ->
   elif uop.op in {UOps.SHAPETRACKER, UOps.SWIZZLE}: st = uop.arg
   # everything else inherits shape
   else:
-    assert uop.op in {UOps.ALU, UOps.CAST, UOps.BITCAST, UOps.CONTRACT, UOps.EXPAND, *BUFFER_UOPS}, f"bad UOp in intermediate uops {uop}"
+    assert uop.op in {UOps.ALU, UOps.CAST, UOps.BITCAST, UOps.CONTRACT, UOps.EXPAND, UOps.ASSIGN, *BUFFER_UOPS}, f"bad UOp in intermediate uops {uop}"
     st = (src_sts:=[sts[x] for x in uop.src if x.has_st])[0]
     if not all_same(shapes:=[x.shape for x in src_sts]):
       if all_same(sizes:=[prod(x) for x in shapes]): raise AssertionError(f"found implicit reshape {shapes}")
diff --git a/tinygrad/codegen/uopgraph.py b/tinygrad/codegen/uopgraph.py
index 5f70891adc..44f87732cf 100644
--- a/tinygrad/codegen/uopgraph.py
+++ b/tinygrad/codegen/uopgraph.py
@@ -346,6 +346,8 @@ constant_folder = PatternMatcher([
   (UPat(UOps.ALU, dtypes.bool, arg=BinaryOps.MUL, name="x"), lambda x: UOp(x.op, x.dtype, x.src, BinaryOps.AND)),
   # self ASSIGN is just self
   (UPat(UOps.ASSIGN, src=(UPat.var('x'), UPat.var('x'))), lambda x: x),
+  # ASSIGN to global is just self
+  (UPat(UOps.ASSIGN, src=(UPat(UOps.DEFINE_GLOBAL), UPat.var("x"))), lambda x: x),
   # VECTORIZE/GEP: the expander rule allows tuple GEP creation, this is just for removal
   (UPat(UOps.VECTORIZE, src=UPat(UOps.GEP, src=(UPat(name="x"),)), name="vec"),
    lambda vec,x: x if x.dtype == vec.dtype and tuple(y.arg[0] for y in vec.src) == tuple(range(len(vec.src))) else None),
diff --git a/tinygrad/engine/schedule.py b/tinygrad/engine/schedule.py
index 490dbb5a02..92f0fa9650 100644
--- a/tinygrad/engine/schedule.py
+++ b/tinygrad/engine/schedule.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ reduceop_fusor = PatternMatcher([
   # push a SWIZZLE down to STORE, through a reduce (ONLY reshapes)
   (UPat(UOps.REDUCE_AXIS, src=(UPat(UOps.SWIZZLE, name="swizzle"),), name="root"), push_swizzle_down_through_reduce),
   # push SWIZZLE(s) down to STORE, through an elementwise op (ONLY reshapes)
-  (UPat((UOps.ALU, UOps.CAST, UOps.BITCAST, UOps.STORE), name="root"), push_swizzle_down_through_elementwise),
+  (UPat((UOps.ALU, UOps.CAST, UOps.BITCAST, UOps.ASSIGN, UOps.STORE), name="root"), push_swizzle_down_through_elementwise),
   (UPat(UOps.REDUCE_AXIS, src=(UPat(UOps.REDUCE_AXIS, name="first_reduce"),), name="root"), merge_double_reduce),
 ])
 
@@ -157,9 +157,10 @@ def _recursive_uop(buf:LazyBuffer, st:ShapeTracker, outputs:Tuple[LazyBuffer, ..
 
   # elementwise ops pass shapetracker
   in_uops = tuple(_recursive_uop(x, st, outputs, var_vals, inputs, realizes, assign_targets, cache) for x in buf.srcs)
-  if buf.op in {MetaOps.CONTIGUOUS, MetaOps.ASSIGN}:
+  if buf.op is MetaOps.CONTIGUOUS:
     assert buf in outputs, f"{buf.op} must be writable"
     return in_uops[0]
+  if buf.op is MetaOps.ASSIGN: return cache.setdefault((buf, st), UOp(UOps.ASSIGN, dtype, (in_uops[1].src[0], in_uops[0])))
   if buf.op is UnaryOps.CAST: return cache.setdefault((buf, st), UOp(UOps.CAST, dtype, in_uops))
   if buf.op is UnaryOps.BITCAST: return cache.setdefault((buf, st), UOp(UOps.BITCAST, dtype, in_uops))
   return cache.setdefault((buf, st), UOp(UOps.ALU, dtype, in_uops, buf.op))
diff --git a/tinygrad/ops.py b/tinygrad/ops.py
index b0290ab811..f3a7b9e403 100644
--- a/tinygrad/ops.py
+++ b/tinygrad/ops.py
@@ -618,7 +618,7 @@ spec = PatternMatcher([(x, functools.partial(lambda fxn,**kw: UOp.const(dtypes.b
   (UPat(UOps.ALU, arg=BinaryOps.IDIV, name="x"), lambda x: None if dtypes.is_int(x.dtype) else False),
   (UPat(UOps.ALU, name="x"), lambda x: all(x.dtype == y.dtype for y in x.src)),
 
-  (UPat(UOps.ASSIGN, src=(UPat(UOps.DEFINE_ACC), UPat())), lambda: True),
+  (UPat(UOps.ASSIGN, src=(UPat((UOps.DEFINE_ACC, UOps.DEFINE_GLOBAL)), UPat())), lambda: True),
   (UPat(UOps.ENDRANGE, dtype=dtypes.void, src=(UPat(UOps.RANGE),)), lambda: True),
 
   # all WMMA has 3 args, <x, w, acc>