diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/GPU/CMakeLists.txt b/mlir/lib/Dialect/GPU/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/GPU/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/GPU/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
   MLIRMemRef
   MLIRSideEffectInterfaces
   MLIRSupport
-  MLIRLLVMIR
   )
 
 add_mlir_dialect_library(MLIRGPUTransforms
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/GPU/IR/GPUDialect.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/GPU/IR/GPUDialect.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/GPU/IR/GPUDialect.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/GPU/IR/GPUDialect.cpp
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 #include "mlir/Dialect/GPU/GPUDialect.h"
 
 #include "mlir/Dialect/Arithmetic/IR/Arithmetic.h"
-#include "mlir/Dialect/LLVMIR/LLVMDialect.h"
 #include "mlir/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRef.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/Attributes.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/Builders.h"
@@ -227,8 +226,14 @@
     // Check that `launch_func` refers to a well-formed kernel function.
     Operation *kernelFunc = module.lookupSymbol(launchOp.kernelAttr());
     auto kernelGPUFunction = dyn_cast_or_null<gpu::GPUFuncOp>(kernelFunc);
-    auto kernelLLVMFunction = dyn_cast_or_null<LLVM::LLVMFuncOp>(kernelFunc);
-    if (!kernelGPUFunction && !kernelLLVMFunction)
+
+    // If the kernel isn't a GPU function, check to see that it is at least a
+    // function of a some kind. This allows for handling when the kernel
+    // function is in another form mid-conversion.
+    auto kernelConvertedFunction =
+        kernelGPUFunction ? nullptr
+                          : dyn_cast_or_null<FunctionOpInterface>(kernelFunc);
+    if (!kernelGPUFunction && !kernelConvertedFunction)
       return launchOp.emitOpError("kernel function '")
              << launchOp.kernel() << "' is undefined";
     if (!kernelFunc->getAttrOfType<mlir::UnitAttr>(
@@ -236,11 +241,11 @@
       return launchOp.emitOpError("kernel function is missing the '")
              << GPUDialect::getKernelFuncAttrName() << "' attribute";
 
-    // TODO: if the kernel function has been converted to
-    // the LLVM dialect but the caller hasn't (which happens during the
-    // separate compilation), do not check type correspondence as it would
-    // require the verifier to be aware of the LLVM type conversion.
-    if (kernelLLVMFunction)
+    // TODO: if the kernel function has been converted already but the caller
+    // hasn't (which happens during separate compilation), do not check type
+    // correspondence as it would require the verifier to be aware of the type
+    // conversion.
+    if (kernelConvertedFunction)
       return success();
 
     unsigned actualNumArguments = launchOp.getNumKernelOperands();