diff --git a/llvm/CMakeLists.txt b/llvm/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/llvm/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/llvm/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -762,6 +762,19 @@
 set(LLVM_PROFDATA_FILE "" CACHE FILEPATH
   "Profiling data file to use when compiling in order to improve runtime performance.")
 
+# Find python before including config-ix, since it needs to be able to search
+# for python modules.
+if(LLVM_INCLUDE_TESTS)
+  # Lit test suite requires at least python 3.6
+  set(LLVM_MINIMUM_PYTHON_VERSION 3.6)
+else()
+  # FIXME: it is unknown if this is the actual minimum bound
+  set(LLVM_MINIMUM_PYTHON_VERSION 3.0)
+endif()
+
+find_package(Python3 ${LLVM_MINIMUM_PYTHON_VERSION} REQUIRED
+    COMPONENTS Interpreter)
+
 # All options referred to from HandleLLVMOptions have to be specified
 # BEFORE this include, otherwise options will not be correctly set on
 # first cmake run
@@ -808,9 +821,6 @@
 
 include(HandleLLVMOptions)
 
-find_package(Python3 ${LLVM_MINIMUM_PYTHON_VERSION} REQUIRED
-    COMPONENTS Interpreter)
-
 ######
 
 # Configure all of the various header file fragments LLVM uses which depend on
diff --git a/llvm/cmake/modules/HandleLLVMOptions.cmake b/llvm/cmake/modules/HandleLLVMOptions.cmake
--- a/llvm/cmake/modules/HandleLLVMOptions.cmake
+++ b/llvm/cmake/modules/HandleLLVMOptions.cmake
@@ -1253,11 +1253,3 @@
   append_if(SUPPORTS_FFILE_PREFIX_MAP "-ffile-prefix-map=${source_root}/=${LLVM_SOURCE_PREFIX}" CMAKE_C_FLAGS CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS)
   add_flag_if_supported("-no-canonical-prefixes" NO_CANONICAL_PREFIXES)
 endif()
-
-if(LLVM_INCLUDE_TESTS)
-  # Lit test suite requires at least python 3.6
-  set(LLVM_MINIMUM_PYTHON_VERSION 3.6)
-else()
-  # FIXME: it is unknown if this is the actual minimum bound
-  set(LLVM_MINIMUM_PYTHON_VERSION 3.0)
-endif()