diff --git a/mlir/cmake/modules/AddMLIR.cmake b/mlir/cmake/modules/AddMLIR.cmake
--- a/mlir/cmake/modules/AddMLIR.cmake
+++ b/mlir/cmake/modules/AddMLIR.cmake
@@ -321,18 +321,11 @@
       "    DEPS = ${_local_deps}\n\n")
   endforeach()
 
-  # Unfortunately need to compile at least one source file, which is hard
-  # to guarantee, so just always generate one. We generate one vs using the
-  # LLVM common dummy.cpp because it works better out of tree.
-  set(_empty_src "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${name}__empty.cpp")
-  file(WRITE "${_empty_src}" "typedef int dummy;")
-
   add_mlir_library(${name}
     ${_libtype}
     ${ARG_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS}
     PARTIAL_SOURCES_INTENDED
     EXCLUDE_FROM_LIBMLIR
-    "${_empty_src}"
     LINK_LIBS PRIVATE
     ${_deps}
     ${ARG_PUBLIC_LIBS}