diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index fcfaa207c176..a802f7af7180 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -332,6 +332,8 @@ def _is_hpu() -> bool:
             except (ValueError, FileNotFoundError, PermissionError,
                     subprocess.CalledProcessError):
                 is_hpu_available = False
+    if VLLM_TARGET_DEVICE != "hpu":
+        return False
     return is_hpu_available or VLLM_TARGET_DEVICE == "hpu"