diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 81bbc459529f9..923748f33d9f2 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -46,12 +46,6 @@ def load_module_from_path(module_name, path):
         "Building on %s, "
         "so vLLM may not be able to run correctly", sys.platform)
     VLLM_TARGET_DEVICE = "empty"
-elif (sys.platform.startswith("linux") and torch.version.cuda is None
-      and os.getenv("VLLM_TARGET_DEVICE") is None
-      and torch.version.hip is None):
-    # if cuda or hip is not available and VLLM_TARGET_DEVICE is not set,
-    # fallback to cpu
-    VLLM_TARGET_DEVICE = "cpu"
 
 MAIN_CUDA_VERSION = "12.1"