diff --git a/src/include/rccl_common.h b/src/include/rccl_common.h
index 542149f6b0..029180df6e 100644
--- a/src/include/rccl_common.h
+++ b/src/include/rccl_common.h
@@ -95,5 +95,5 @@ void rcclSetP2pNetChunkSize(struct ncclComm* comm,  int& rcclP2pNetChunkSize);
 ncclResult_t rcclFuncMaxSendRecvCount(ncclFunc_t func, int nRanks, size_t count, size_t& maxCount);
 ncclResult_t commSetUnrollFactor(struct ncclComm* comm);
 bool validHsaScratchEnvSetting(const char*hsaScratchEnv, int hipRuntimeVersion, int firmwareVersion, const char* archName);
-int parseFirmwareVersion(const char* command);
+int parseFirmwareVersion();
 #endif
diff --git a/src/init.cc b/src/init.cc
index c428488294..727af9dbcd 100644
--- a/src/init.cc
+++ b/src/init.cc
@@ -131,14 +131,21 @@ static ncclResult_t initResult = ncclSuccess;
 static pthread_once_t initOnceControl = PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT;
 
 ncclResult_t checkHsaEnvSetting() {
+  // get user-specified value for `HSA_NO_SCRATCH_RECLAIM`
   const char* hsaScratchEnv = getenv("HSA_NO_SCRATCH_RECLAIM");
+
   int hipRuntimeVersion = 0;
   // hipVer is an integer e.g., 6.2.41133 -> 60241133
   CUDACHECK(hipRuntimeGetVersion(&hipRuntimeVersion));
-  const int firmwareVersion = parseFirmwareVersion("amd-smi firmware");
+
+  // using rocm-smi API to query FW version, instead of parsing CLI output
+  // will switch to amd-smi API soon
+  const int firmwareVersion = parseFirmwareVersion();
+
   hipDeviceProp_t devProp;
   // use GPU0 should be good enough
   CUDACHECK(hipGetDeviceProperties(&devProp, 0));
+
   INFO(NCCL_INIT, "Hipruntime version: %d, firmware version: %d", hipRuntimeVersion, firmwareVersion);
   if (!validHsaScratchEnvSetting(hsaScratchEnv, hipRuntimeVersion, firmwareVersion, devProp.gcnArchName)) {
     WARN("HSA_NO_SCRATCH_RECLAIM=1 must be set to avoid RCCL perf hit, rocm ver:%d", hipRuntimeVersion);
diff --git a/src/rccl_wrap.cc b/src/rccl_wrap.cc
index 55f6e40dc3..05a9cb3aed 100644
--- a/src/rccl_wrap.cc
+++ b/src/rccl_wrap.cc
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ THE SOFTWARE.
 #include "comm.h"
 #include "graph/topo.h"
 #include "enqueue.h"
+#include "rocm_smi/rocm_smi.h"
 
 // Use this param to experiment pipelining new data types besides bfloat16
 // Make sure you generate the device code with the new data type (i.e. in generate.py)
@@ -342,37 +343,26 @@ std::vector<std::string> splitString(const std::string& s, char delimiter) {
   return tokens;
 }
 
-int parseFirmwareVersionImpl(FILE* file) {
-  constexpr std::size_t MAX_LINE_SZ = 1024;
-  char line[MAX_LINE_SZ];
-  bool found_pattern = false;
-  while (fgets(line, MAX_LINE_SZ, file)) {
-    auto parts = splitString(line, ':');
-    if (parts == std::vector<std::string>{"FW_ID", "CP_MEC1"}) {
-      if (!found_pattern) {
-        found_pattern = true;
-      }
-      continue;
-    }
+int parseFirmwareVersionImpl() {
+  uint64_t fw_version = -1;
 
-    if (found_pattern && (parts[0] == "FW_VERSION")) {
-      return stoi(parts[1]) & 0x7ff;
-    }
-  }
-  return -1;
+  // using rocm-smi APIs for now to query MEC FW version
+  // will switch to amd-smi APIs soon
+  rsmi_status_t ret;
+  ret = rsmi_init(0);
+  if (ret != RSMI_STATUS_SUCCESS) return -1;
+  ret = rsmi_dev_firmware_version_get(0, RSMI_FW_BLOCK_MEC, &fw_version);
+  if (ret != RSMI_STATUS_SUCCESS) return -1;
+
+  return fw_version;
 }
 
-int parseFirmwareVersion(const char* command) {
-  auto file = popen(command, "r");
-  if (file == nullptr) {
-    return -1;
-  }
+int parseFirmwareVersion() {
   int version = -1;
   try {
-    version = parseFirmwareVersionImpl(file);
+    version = parseFirmwareVersionImpl();
   } catch (const std::exception& ex) {
   }
-  pclose(file);
   return version;
 }