diff --git a/arch/mips/Makefile b/arch/mips/Makefile
index cff1a9a43b89..3e9eb0650cac 100644
--- a/arch/mips/Makefile
+++ b/arch/mips/Makefile
@@ -290,18 +290,20 @@ drivers-$(CONFIG_PCI)		+= arch/mips/pci/
 # We can always force a build with a 64-bits symbol format by
 # passing 'KBUILD_SYM32=no' option to the make's command line.
 #
-ifdef CONFIG_64BIT
-  ifndef KBUILD_SYM32
-    ifeq ($(shell expr $(load-y) \< 0xffffffff80000000), 0)
-      KBUILD_SYM32 = $(call cc-option-yn, -msym32)
+ifdef need-compiler
+  ifdef CONFIG_64BIT
+    ifndef KBUILD_SYM32
+      ifeq ($(shell expr $(load-y) \< 0xffffffff80000000), 0)
+        KBUILD_SYM32 = $(call cc-option-yn, -msym32)
+      endif
     endif
-  endif
 
-  ifeq ($(KBUILD_SYM32), y)
-    cflags-$(KBUILD_SYM32) += -msym32 -DKBUILD_64BIT_SYM32
-  else
-    ifeq ($(CONFIG_CPU_DADDI_WORKAROUNDS), y)
-      $(error CONFIG_CPU_DADDI_WORKAROUNDS unsupported without -msym32)
+    ifeq ($(KBUILD_SYM32), y)
+      cflags-$(KBUILD_SYM32) += -msym32 -DKBUILD_64BIT_SYM32
+    else
+      ifeq ($(CONFIG_CPU_DADDI_WORKAROUNDS), y)
+        $(error CONFIG_CPU_DADDI_WORKAROUNDS unsupported without -msym32)
+      endif
     endif
   endif
 endif