diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-matplotlib/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-matplotlib/package.py
index 2e7f7e5869a..247fd9fc90d 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-matplotlib/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-matplotlib/package.py
@@ -209,7 +209,8 @@ def configure(self):
                 config.write('[libs]\n')
                 config.write('system_freetype = True\n')
                 config.write('system_qhull = True\n')
-                if self.spec.satisfies('%clang'):
+                # avoids error where link time opt is used for compile but not link
+                if self.spec.satisfies('%clang') or self.spec.satisfies('%oneapi'):
                     config.write('enable_lto = False\n')
 
     @run_after('build')