diff --git a/rocclr/runtime/device/gpu/gpukernel.cpp b/rocclr/runtime/device/gpu/gpukernel.cpp
index 2e9c8446ad..da6a8b5f17 100644
--- a/rocclr/runtime/device/gpu/gpukernel.cpp
+++ b/rocclr/runtime/device/gpu/gpukernel.cpp
@@ -3605,11 +3605,11 @@ HSAILKernel::init(amd::hsa::loader::Symbol *sym, bool finalize)
     }
     acl_error error = ACL_SUCCESS;
     std::string openClKernelName = openclMangledName(name());
+    flags_.internalKernel_ = (compileOptions_.find("-cl-internal-kernel") !=
+                              std::string::npos) ? true: false;
     //compile kernel down to ISA
     if (finalize) {
         std::string options(compileOptions_.c_str());
-        flags_.internalKernel_ = (compileOptions_.find("-cl-internal-kernel") !=
-                                  std::string::npos) ? true: false;
         options.append(" -just-kernel=");
         options.append(openClKernelName.c_str());
         // Append an option so that we can selectively enable a SCOption on CZ