diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 01ad728c425..6bdcda2f19c 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -724,7 +724,6 @@ endif()
 
 if(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_EXTENSION_FLAT_TENSOR)
   add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/extension/flat_tensor)
-  add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/extension/flat_tensor/serialize)
 endif()
 
 if(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_EXTENSION_LLM)
diff --git a/extension/flat_tensor/CMakeLists.txt b/extension/flat_tensor/CMakeLists.txt
index 14d49d244e3..caacd96b557 100644
--- a/extension/flat_tensor/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/extension/flat_tensor/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ install(
   DESTINATION ${_common_include_directories}
 )
 
+add_subdirectory(serialize)
+add_dependencies(extension_flat_tensor flat_tensor_schema)
+
 if(BUILD_TESTING)
   add_subdirectory(test)
 endif()