diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index cc157f50e1ba..0e74015dd061 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ set(ROCMLIR_DRIVER_RANDOM_DATA_SEED "none" CACHE STRING "Enable E2E tests using
 set(ROCMLIR_GEN_FLAGS "" CACHE BOOL "Set feature flag for rocmlir-gen")
 set(ROCMLIR_DRIVER_TEST_GPU_VALIDATION 1 CACHE BOOL "Enable E2E tests with GPU validation")
 set(ROCK_E2E_TEST_ENABLED 0 CACHE BOOL "Enable build rock E2E tests")
+option(ROCMLIR_BUILD_TUNING_DRIVER "Build rocmlir-tuning-driver (default ON when BUILD_FAT_LIBROCKCOMPILER)" OFF)
 set(ROCMLIR_ENABLE_BENCHMARKS "" CACHE STRING "List of enabled benchmarks")
 
 set(ROCMLIR_BIN_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/bin" CACHE PATH "")
@@ -81,6 +82,8 @@ if( BUILD_FAT_LIBROCKCOMPILER )
   set(LLVM_BUILD_LLVM_DYLIB OFF CACHE BOOL "")
   # rocm-runner is not supported with static libraries
   set(MLIR_ENABLE_ROCM_RUNNER 0 CACHE BOOL "")
+  # Enable tuning driver by default for fat-lib builds (it can link against static dialect libs + shared HIP)
+  set(ROCMLIR_BUILD_TUNING_DRIVER ON CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
   set(MLIR_INCLUDE_INTEGRATION_TESTS OFF CACHE BOOL "")
   set(ROCMLIR_DRIVER_PR_E2E_TEST_ENABLED 0 CACHE BOOL "Enable build PR-triggered E2E tests for Rock driver")
   set(MHAL_ENABLE_HOST_RUNNER OFF CACHE BOOL "Enable MHAL host runner")
diff --git a/mlir/test/CMakeLists.txt b/mlir/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 37d4e393e7af..86d17971e281 100644
--- a/mlir/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/mlir/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -124,6 +124,10 @@ if(MLIR_ENABLE_ROCM_RUNNER)
     rocmlir-tuning-driver
   )
 endif()
+# When building tuning driver without rocm-runner (e.g. fat-lib), ensure it is built before tests
+if(ROCMLIR_BUILD_TUNING_DRIVER)
+  list(APPEND ROCMLIR_TEST_DEPENDS rocmlir-tuning-driver)
+endif()
 
 if(MLIR_BINDINGS_PYTHON_ENABLED)
   list(APPEND ROCMLIR_TEST_DEPENDS
diff --git a/mlir/tools/rocmlir-tuning-driver/CMakeLists.txt b/mlir/tools/rocmlir-tuning-driver/CMakeLists.txt
index d79b496b96c4..ca392984bae6 100644
--- a/mlir/tools/rocmlir-tuning-driver/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/mlir/tools/rocmlir-tuning-driver/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ set(LLVM_OPTIONAL_SOURCES
   rocmlir-tuning-driver.cpp
   )
 
-if(MLIR_ENABLE_ROCM_RUNNER)
+if(MLIR_ENABLE_ROCM_RUNNER OR ROCMLIR_BUILD_TUNING_DRIVER)
 
 get_property(rocmlir_dialect_libs GLOBAL PROPERTY ROCMLIR_DIALECT_LIBS)
 get_property(rocmlir_conversion_libs GLOBAL PROPERTY ROCMLIR_CONVERSION_LIBS)
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ find_package(hip REQUIRED)
 find_package(hiprtc REQUIRED)
 set(CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH "${REAL_CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH}")
 
-# Supress compiler warnings from HIP headers
+# Suppress compiler warnings from HIP headers (only when rocm runner is built)
+if(MLIR_ENABLE_ROCM_RUNNER)
 check_cxx_compiler_flag(-Wno-c++98-compat-extra-semi
   CXX_SUPPORTS_NO_CXX98_COMPAT_EXTRA_SEMI_FLAG)
 if (CXX_SUPPORTS_CXX98_COMPAT_EXTRA_SEMI_FLAG)
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ if (CXX_SUPPORTS_WNO_GNU_ANONYMOUS_STRUCT_FLAG)
   target_compile_options(mlir_rocm_runtime PRIVATE
     "-Wno-gnu-anonymous-struct")
 endif()
+endif()
 
 set_property(TARGET rocmlir-tuning-driver
   PROPERTY INSTALL_RPATH_USE_LINK_PATH ON)
diff --git a/mlir/utils/CMakeLists.txt b/mlir/utils/CMakeLists.txt
index 408ca5ba0257..175632bd9ea5 100644
--- a/mlir/utils/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/mlir/utils/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 # subdirectory leads to static library builds trying to find HIP, which
 # has caused fatal CMake errors in cases where ROCm is only partially
 # installed.
-if (MLIR_ENABLE_ROCM_RUNNER)
+# ROCMLIR_BUILD_TUNING_DRIVER also needs performance/common for benchmark-driver-utils.
+if (MLIR_ENABLE_ROCM_RUNNER OR ROCMLIR_BUILD_TUNING_DRIVER)
   add_subdirectory(performance)
 endif()