diff --git a/src/plugins/intel_npu/src/utils/src/vm/CMakeLists.txt b/src/plugins/intel_npu/src/utils/src/vm/CMakeLists.txt
index 1c0f458c1d7514..27d34652b8c021 100644
--- a/src/plugins/intel_npu/src/utils/src/vm/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/plugins/intel_npu/src/utils/src/vm/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -40,4 +40,7 @@ endif()
 # headers are copied into the build directory by prepare_ze_headers; without
 # this explicit dependency a parallel build may compile ${TARGET_NAME} before
 # the headers are copied, causing a missing-header error
-add_dependencies(${TARGET_NAME} prepare_ze_headers)
+# If ENABLE_SYSTEM_LEVEL_ZERO enabled, prepare_ze_headers is not defined
+if (TARGET prepare_ze_headers)
+    add_dependencies(${TARGET_NAME} prepare_ze_headers)
+endif()