diff --git a/skainet-compile/skainet-compile-hlo/build.gradle.kts b/skainet-compile/skainet-compile-hlo/build.gradle.kts
index 8d64638c..bc5f74e8 100644
--- a/skainet-compile/skainet-compile-hlo/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/skainet-compile/skainet-compile-hlo/build.gradle.kts
@@ -54,8 +54,10 @@ kotlin {
         }
 
         jvmMain.dependencies {
+            // HloGenerator records traces with VoidTensorOps from
+            // skainet-lang-core — the JVM production path never needs a
+            // real backend implementation. No CPU-specific imports here.
             implementation(project(":skainet-lang:skainet-lang-models"))
-            implementation(project(":skainet-backends:skainet-backend-cpu"))
             implementation(libs.kotlinx.coroutines)
         }