diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/audit.py b/lib/spack/spack/audit.py
index 77e85172d72..500c8282e5a 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/audit.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/audit.py
@@ -1009,20 +1009,6 @@ def _issues_in_depends_on_directive(pkgs, error_cls):
 
         for when, deps_by_name in pkg_cls.dependencies.items():
             for dep_name, dep in deps_by_name.items():
-                # Check if there are nested dependencies declared. We don't want directives like:
-                #
-                #     depends_on('foo+bar ^fee+baz')
-                #
-                # but we'd like to have two dependencies listed instead.
-                nested_dependencies = dep.spec.dependencies()
-                if nested_dependencies:
-                    summary = f"{pkg_name}: nested dependency declaration '{dep.spec}'"
-                    ndir = len(nested_dependencies) + 1
-                    details = [
-                        f"split depends_on('{dep.spec}', when='{when}') into {ndir} directives",
-                        f"in {filename}",
-                    ]
-                    errors.append(error_cls(summary=summary, details=details))
 
                 def check_virtual_with_variants(spec, msg):
                     if not spec.virtual or not spec.variants:
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/directives.py b/lib/spack/spack/directives.py
index 08f6ec9ba95..e20515bd509 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/directives.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/directives.py
@@ -297,6 +297,13 @@ def _depends_on(
     deps_by_name = pkg.dependencies.setdefault(when_spec, {})
     dependency = deps_by_name.get(spec.name)
 
+    if spec.dependencies():
+        raise DirectiveError(
+            f"the '^' sigil cannot be used in 'depends_on' directives. Please reformulate "
+            f"the directive below as multiple directives:\n\n"
+            f'\tdepends_on("{spec}", when="{when_spec}")\n'
+        )
+
     if not dependency:
         dependency = Dependency(pkg, spec, depflag=depflag)
         deps_by_name[spec.name] = dependency
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/amd-aocl/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/amd-aocl/package.py
index 85f7148c818..93616521a16 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/amd-aocl/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/amd-aocl/package.py
@@ -35,6 +35,14 @@ class AmdAocl(BundlePackage):
 
     variant("openmp", default=False, description="Enable OpenMP support.")
 
+    depends_on("scalapack")
+    depends_on("lapack")
+    depends_on("blas")
+
+    requires("^[virtuals=scalapack] amdscalapack")
+    requires("^[virtuals=lapack] amdlibflame")
+    requires("^[virtuals=blas] amdblis")
+
     with when("+openmp"):
         depends_on("amdblis threads=openmp")
         depends_on("amdfftw +openmp")
@@ -56,11 +64,8 @@ class AmdAocl(BundlePackage):
             depends_on(f"amdblis@={vers}")
             depends_on(f"amdfftw@={vers}")
             depends_on(f"amdlibflame@={vers}")
-            depends_on("amdlibflame ^[virtuals=blas] amdblis")
             depends_on(f"amdlibm@={vers}")
             depends_on(f"amdscalapack@={vers}")
-            depends_on("amdscalapack ^[virtuals=blas] amdblis")
-            depends_on("amdscalapack ^[virtuals=lapack] amdlibflame")
             depends_on(f"aocl-sparse@={vers}")
             if Version(vers) >= Version("4.2"):
                 depends_on(f"aocl-compression@={vers}")