diff --git a/target/linux/malta/Makefile b/target/linux/malta/Makefile
index cab5d76b1d..82eb7fd3a3 100644
--- a/target/linux/malta/Makefile
+++ b/target/linux/malta/Makefile
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ include $(TOPDIR)/rules.mk
 
 BOARD:=malta
 BOARDNAME:=MIPS Malta CoreLV board (qemu)
-CPU_TYPE:=24kc
 SUBTARGETS:=le be le64 be64
 INITRAMFS_EXTRA_FILES:=
 MAINTAINER:=Florian Fainelli <florian@openwrt.org>
diff --git a/target/linux/malta/be/target.mk b/target/linux/malta/be/target.mk
index 45949f50c8..8d306c8a15 100644
--- a/target/linux/malta/be/target.mk
+++ b/target/linux/malta/be/target.mk
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 ARCH:=mips
+CPU_TYPE:=24kc
 SUBTARGET:=be
 BOARDNAME:=Big Endian
 
diff --git a/target/linux/malta/le/target.mk b/target/linux/malta/le/target.mk
index e642510621..feb0f1d04c 100644
--- a/target/linux/malta/le/target.mk
+++ b/target/linux/malta/le/target.mk
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 ARCH:=mipsel
+CPU_TYPE:=24kc
 SUBTARGET:=le
 FEATURES+=source-only
 BOARDNAME:=Little Endian