diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 20db649f7547..da7a814848fb 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -114,7 +114,8 @@
 # default variables (for Linux)
 _project_compiler = "clang++"
 _project_linker = "clang++"
-_project_cmplr_flag_sycl = ["-fsycl"]
+_project_cmplr_aot_flag_sycl = ["-fsycl-targets=spir64_x86_64-unknown-unknown-sycldevice"] #,spir64_gen-unknown-unknown-sycldevice"]
+_project_cmplr_flag_sycl = ["-fsycl"] + _project_cmplr_aot_flag_sycl
 _project_cmplr_flag_compatibility = ["-Wl,--enable-new-dtags", "-fPIC"]
 _project_cmplr_flag_lib = []
 _project_cmplr_macro = []