diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-cpu/CMakeLists.txt b/ggml/src/ggml-cpu/CMakeLists.txt
index 388675f5f0911..369905750754f 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-cpu/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-cpu/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -224,7 +224,13 @@ function(ggml_add_cpu_backend_variant_impl tag_name)
                 foreach(feature DOTPROD SVE MATMUL_INT8 FMA FP16_VECTOR_ARITHMETIC SME)
                     string(FIND "${ARM_FEATURE}" "__ARM_FEATURE_${feature} 1" feature_pos)
                     if (NOT ${feature_pos} EQUAL -1)
-                        message(STATUS "ARM feature ${feature} enabled")
+                        # Special handling for MATMUL_INT8 when machine doesn't support i8mm
+                        if ("${feature}" STREQUAL "MATMUL_INT8" AND GGML_MACHINE_SUPPORTS_noi8mm)
+                            message(STATUS "ARM feature ${feature} detected but unsetting due to machine not supporting i8mm")
+                            list(APPEND ARCH_FLAGS -U__ARM_FEATURE_MATMUL_INT8)
+                        else()
+                            message(STATUS "ARM feature ${feature} enabled")
+                        endif()
                     endif()
                 endforeach()
             endif()