diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 636b33ad2..5488d716c 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake")
 
 option(GC_LEGACY_ENABLE ON)
 option(GC_TEST_ENABLE "Build the tests" ON)
-option(GC_USE_GPU "Enable GPU backend" OFF)
+option(GC_USE_IMEX "Enable GPU backend with IMEX support" OFF)
 option(GC_ENABLE_BINDINGS_PYTHON "Enable Graph Complier Python Binding" ON)
 option(GC_DEV_LINK_LLVM_DYLIB "Link dynamic libraries of LLVM and MLIR. For developers only. Do not use it in packing the library." OFF)
 
@@ -53,10 +53,10 @@ include(AddLLVM)
 include(AddMLIR)
 include(HandleLLVMOptions)
 
-if(GC_USE_GPU)
+if(GC_USE_IMEX)
   include(imex)
   if(GC_DEV_LINK_LLVM_DYLIB)
-    message(WARN "GPU backend may not be compatible with dynamic linking to LLVM")
+    message(WARN "GPU IMEX backend may not be compatible with dynamic linking to LLVM")
   endif()
 endif()
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 958878fae..df8287bf2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ Notes:
  * `/PATH/TO/llvm-project/llvm-install` should be the install path of LLVM. If you installed LLVM elsewhere by `-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` option when building LLVM, you need to change the path in `-DMLIR_DIR` accordingly.
  *  The cmake option `-DLLVM_EXTERNAL_LIT` is for the tests of this project. It requires the `lit` tool to be installed in the system. You can install it via `pip install lit`. If you don't need to run the tests of this repo, you can omit this option in the command line.
 
-More notes if GPU components are on (`-DGC_USE_GPU=ON`):
+More notes if GPU IMEX components are on (`-DGC_USE_IMEX=ON`):
  * make sure the OpenCL runtime is installed in your system. You can either
   install using OS-provided package (Ubuntu 22.04)
 ```sh
@@ -76,5 +76,5 @@ Graph Compiler supports the following build-time options.
 | GC_TEST_ENABLE                  | **ON**, OFF                            | Controls building the tests                                                            |
 | GC_DEV_LINK_LLVM_DYLIB          | ON, **OFF**                            | Controls dynamic link LLVM/MLIR libraries, mainly for developer                        |
 | GC_ENABLE_BINDINGS_PYTHON       | **ON**, OFF                            | Controls building the Python API                                                       |
-| GC_USE_GPU          | ON, **OFF**                            | Whether to enable the GPU components                        |
+| GC_USE_IMEX          | ON, **OFF**                            | Whether to enable the GPU IMEX components                        |
 
diff --git a/include/gc/Transforms/Passes.td b/include/gc/Transforms/Passes.td
index 79a62f028..ce840edb9 100644
--- a/include/gc/Transforms/Passes.td
+++ b/include/gc/Transforms/Passes.td
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def ConvertOneDNNGraphToLinalg : Pass<"convert-onednn-graph-to-linalg"> {
   ];
 }
 
-#ifdef GC_USE_GPU
+#ifdef GC_USE_IMEX
 def LinalgToXeGPU : Pass<"linalg-to-xegpu", "func::FuncOp"> {
   let summary = "Convert linalg dialect to XeGPU dialect.";
   let description = [{
@@ -57,6 +57,6 @@ def LinalgToXeGPU : Pass<"linalg-to-xegpu", "func::FuncOp"> {
                "DPAS register block sizes MxNxK">,
   ];
 }
-#endif
+#endif // GC_USE_IMEX
 
 #endif // GC_DIALECT_GC_PASSES
diff --git a/lib/gc/CAPI/CMakeLists.txt b/lib/gc/CAPI/CMakeLists.txt
index f7738c064..ab488de10 100644
--- a/lib/gc/CAPI/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/lib/gc/CAPI/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,9 +4,8 @@ set(GC_ALL_LIBS
   GCPasses
   MLIRCPURuntimeTransforms)
 
-if(GC_USE_GPU)
-  list(APPEND GC_ALL_LIBS GCGPUPasses)
-endif()
+get_property(gc_passes_libs GLOBAL PROPERTY GC_PASS_LIBS)
+list(APPEND GC_ALL_LIBS ${gc_passes_libs})
 
 add_mlir_public_c_api_library(GcCAPI
   Dialects.cpp
diff --git a/lib/gc/ExecutionEngine/CMakeLists.txt b/lib/gc/ExecutionEngine/CMakeLists.txt
index d5279b044..af2c787d0 100644
--- a/lib/gc/ExecutionEngine/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/lib/gc/ExecutionEngine/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 add_subdirectory(CPURuntime)
 add_subdirectory(Driver)
-if(GC_USE_GPU)
+if(GC_USE_IMEX)
     add_subdirectory(OpenCLRuntime)
 endif()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/gc/ExecutionEngine/Driver/CMakeLists.txt b/lib/gc/ExecutionEngine/Driver/CMakeLists.txt
index 8742ef6e9..3f3cd366f 100644
--- a/lib/gc/ExecutionEngine/Driver/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/lib/gc/ExecutionEngine/Driver/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -26,10 +26,7 @@ else()
   )
 endif()
 
-set(GC_PASSES GCPasses)
-if(GC_USE_GPU)
-  list(APPEND GC_PASSES GCGPUPasses)
-endif()
+get_property(gc_passes_libs GLOBAL PROPERTY GC_PASS_LIBS)
 
 add_mlir_library(GCJitWrapper
   Driver.cpp
@@ -41,6 +38,6 @@ add_mlir_library(GCJitWrapper
     ${MLIR_LINK_COMPONENTS}
     ${dialect_libs}
     ${conversion_libs}
-    ${GC_PASSES}
+    ${gc_passes_libs}
   )
 
diff --git a/lib/gc/Transforms/CMakeLists.txt b/lib/gc/Transforms/CMakeLists.txt
index f60c8cec2..1b4f2cb73 100644
--- a/lib/gc/Transforms/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/lib/gc/Transforms/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -28,6 +28,4 @@ add_mlir_library(GCPasses
   )
 
 set_property(GLOBAL APPEND PROPERTY GC_PASS_LIBS GCPasses)
-if(GC_USE_GPU)
-  add_subdirectory(GPU)
-endif()
+add_subdirectory(GPU)
diff --git a/lib/gc/Transforms/GPU/CMakeLists.txt b/lib/gc/Transforms/GPU/CMakeLists.txt
index d730db5a3..c861d7b4e 100644
--- a/lib/gc/Transforms/GPU/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/lib/gc/Transforms/GPU/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
-add_mlir_library(GCGPUPasses
+# todo: populate with default sources
+# add_mlir_library(GCGPUPasses)
+
+# todo: relax this to not require imex
+if(GC_ENABLE_IMEX)
+add_mlir_library(GCGPUIMEXPasses
   LinalgToXeGPU.cpp
 
   ADDITIONAL_HEADER_DIRS
@@ -20,4 +25,5 @@ add_mlir_library(GCGPUPasses
     GCUtilsIR
 )
 
-set_property(GLOBAL APPEND PROPERTY GC_PASS_LIBS GCGPUPasses)
+set_property(GLOBAL APPEND PROPERTY GC_PASS_LIBS GCGPUIMEXPasses)
+endif()
diff --git a/src/gc-opt/CMakeLists.txt b/src/gc-opt/CMakeLists.txt
index f127653de..64540fd02 100644
--- a/src/gc-opt/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/gc-opt/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -29,19 +29,20 @@ else()
   get_property(conversion_libs GLOBAL PROPERTY MLIR_CONVERSION_LIBS)
 endif()
 
+get_property(gc_passes_libs GLOBAL PROPERTY GC_PASS_LIBS)
+
 set(gc_opt_libs 
         ${dialect_libs}
         ${conversion_libs} 
         ${MLIR_LINK_COMPONENTS}
-        GCPasses)
+        ${gc_passes_libs})
 
-if(GC_USE_GPU)
-  add_definitions(-DGC_USE_GPU=1)
+if(GC_USE_IMEX)
+  add_definitions(-DGC_USE_IMEX=1)
   get_property(IMEX_INCLUDES GLOBAL PROPERTY IMEX_INCLUDES)
   include_directories(${IMEX_INCLUDES})
   list(APPEND gc_opt_libs IMEXGPUXDialect IMEXXeTileDialect IMEXRegionDialect IMEXRegionTransforms
-    IMEXTransforms IMEXGPUToGPUX IMEXGPUToSPIRV IMEXGPUXToLLVM IMEXXeGPUToVC IMEXXeTileToXeGPU IMEXUtil
-    GCGPUPasses)
+    IMEXTransforms IMEXGPUToGPUX IMEXGPUToSPIRV IMEXGPUXToLLVM IMEXXeGPUToVC IMEXXeTileToXeGPU IMEXUtil)
 endif()
 if(GC_MLIR_CXX_FLAGS)
     set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${GC_MLIR_CXX_FLAGS}")
diff --git a/src/gc-opt/gc-opt.cpp b/src/gc-opt/gc-opt.cpp
index 5aa0bfc1d..499fef3f0 100644
--- a/src/gc-opt/gc-opt.cpp
+++ b/src/gc-opt/gc-opt.cpp
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 #include "mlir/InitAllPasses.h"
 #include "mlir/Tools/mlir-opt/MlirOptMain.h"
 
-#ifdef GC_USE_GPU
+#ifdef GC_USE_IMEX
 #include <imex/InitIMEXDialects.h>
 #include <imex/InitIMEXPasses.h>
 #endif
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ void registerCPUPipeline();
 } // namespace mlir::gc
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
-#ifdef GC_USE_GPU
+#ifdef GC_USE_IMEX
   imex::registerTransformsPasses();
   // Conversion passes
   imex::registerConvertGPUToGPUX();
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   registry.insert<mlir::linalgx::LinalgxDialect>();
   registry.insert<mlir::microkernel::MicrokernelDialect>();
   mlir::registerAllDialects(registry);
-#ifdef GC_USE_GPU
+#ifdef GC_USE_IMEX
   registry.insert<::imex::xetile::XeTileDialect, ::imex::gpux::GPUXDialect>();
 #endif
   mlir::cpuruntime::registerConvertCPURuntimeToLLVMInterface(registry);
diff --git a/test/mlir/test/CMakeLists.txt b/test/mlir/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 7ac5a89c6..d5b79fd72 100644
--- a/test/mlir/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/mlir/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ set(GC_OPT_TEST_DEPENDS
         GCUnitTests
 )
 
-if(GC_USE_GPU)
+if(GC_USE_IMEX)
         include(imex)
         list(APPEND GC_OPT_TEST_DEPENDS mlir_opencl_runtime)
 endif()
diff --git a/test/mlir/test/gc/Transforms/GPU/lit.local.cfg b/test/mlir/test/gc/Transforms/GPU/lit.local.cfg
index f086e9be8..f180dd41b 100644
--- a/test/mlir/test/gc/Transforms/GPU/lit.local.cfg
+++ b/test/mlir/test/gc/Transforms/GPU/lit.local.cfg
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-if not config.gc_use_gpu:
+if not config.gc_use_imex:
     config.unsupported = True
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/mlir/test/gc/gpu-runner/lit.local.cfg b/test/mlir/test/gc/gpu-runner/lit.local.cfg
index f086e9be8..f180dd41b 100644
--- a/test/mlir/test/gc/gpu-runner/lit.local.cfg
+++ b/test/mlir/test/gc/gpu-runner/lit.local.cfg
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-if not config.gc_use_gpu:
+if not config.gc_use_imex:
     config.unsupported = True
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/mlir/test/lit.cfg.py b/test/mlir/test/lit.cfg.py
index d53e105e1..b618568e7 100644
--- a/test/mlir/test/lit.cfg.py
+++ b/test/mlir/test/lit.cfg.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 config.substitutions.append(('%mlir_runner_utils', config.mlir_runner_utils))
 config.substitutions.append(('%mlir_c_runner_utils', config.mlir_c_runner_utils))
 
-if config.gc_use_gpu:
+if config.gc_use_imex:
     config.substitutions.append(('%opencl_runtime', config.opencl_runtime))
 
 llvm_config.with_system_environment(["HOME", "INCLUDE", "LIB", "TMP", "TEMP"])
diff --git a/test/mlir/test/lit.site.cfg.py.in b/test/mlir/test/lit.site.cfg.py.in
index 6bea6d13e..215329191 100644
--- a/test/mlir/test/lit.site.cfg.py.in
+++ b/test/mlir/test/lit.site.cfg.py.in
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ config.gc_src_root = "@CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR@"
 config.gc_obj_root = "@CMAKE_BINARY_DIR@"
 config.gc_lib_dir = os.path.join(config.gc_obj_root, "lib")
 config.mlir_obj_dir = "@MLIR_BINARY_DIR@"
-config.gc_use_gpu = "@GC_USE_GPU@" in ["ON", "1"]
+config.gc_use_imex = "@GC_USE_IMEX@" in ["ON", "1"]
 config.enable_bindings_python = @GC_ENABLE_BINDINGS_PYTHON@
 config.llvm_shlib_dir = "@SHLIBDIR@"
 config.llvm_shlib_ext = "@SHLIBEXT@"