diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-torch/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-torch/package.py
index 2677105c643..9e8f395cbf4 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-torch/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-torch/package.py
@@ -215,10 +215,11 @@ class PyTorch(PythonPackage, CudaPackage, ROCmPackage):
     # depends_on("onnx@1.8.0_2020-11-03", when="@1.8:1.9+onnx_ml")
     # depends_on("onnx@1.7.0_2020-05-31", when="@1.6:1.7+onnx_ml")
     with when("~custom-protobuf"):
-        depends_on("protobuf@3.13.0", when="@1.10:")
-        depends_on("protobuf@3.11.4", when="@1.6:1.9")
-        depends_on("protobuf@3.6.1", when="@1.1:1.5")
-        depends_on("protobuf@3.5.0", when="@1.0")
+        with default_args(type="build"):
+            depends_on("protobuf@3.13.0", when="@1.10:")
+            depends_on("protobuf@3.11.4", when="@1.6:1.9")
+            depends_on("protobuf@3.6.1", when="@1.1:1.5")
+            depends_on("protobuf@3.5.0", when="@1.0")
         with default_args(type=("build", "run")):
             depends_on("py-protobuf@3.13", when="@1.10:")
             depends_on("py-protobuf@3.11", when="@1.6:1.9")