diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 411e51fa874..91a6d09308f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -450,7 +450,8 @@ endif()
 
 # Third-party libraries (tpls)
 # ==============================================================================
-set(FMT_INSTALL ON)
+# Disable fmt's install rules so that no fmt headers/targets get exported
+set(FMT_INSTALL OFF CACHE BOOL "Disable installing fmt; keep it private to CUDA-Q." FORCE)
 cmake_policy(PUSH)
 # CMP0146: The FindCUDA module is removed.
 # CMake 3.27 and above no longer provide the modules.
@@ -458,7 +459,7 @@ cmake_policy(PUSH)
 if(POLICY CMP0146)
   cmake_policy(SET CMP0146 OLD)
 endif()
-add_subdirectory(tpls/fmt)
+add_subdirectory(tpls/fmt EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
 cmake_policy(POP)
 include_directories(SYSTEM tpls/json/include)
 
diff --git a/runtime/cudaq/platform/mqpu/remote/CMakeLists.txt b/runtime/cudaq/platform/mqpu/remote/CMakeLists.txt
index bc3fbe964f3..82bee689e31 100644
--- a/runtime/cudaq/platform/mqpu/remote/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/runtime/cudaq/platform/mqpu/remote/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ target_link_libraries(cudaq-remote-simulator-qpu PUBLIC
                         cudaq-common 
                         cudaq-mlir-runtime
                         rest-remote-platform-client
-                        fmt::fmt-header-only
                         cudaq-platform-mqpu
+                        PRIVATE fmt::fmt-header-only
                     )
                     
 install(TARGETS cudaq-remote-simulator-qpu DESTINATION lib)
diff --git a/runtime/nvqir/CMakeLists.txt b/runtime/nvqir/CMakeLists.txt
index 251719e9ed0..57f1921366b 100644
--- a/runtime/nvqir/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/runtime/nvqir/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ set_property(GLOBAL APPEND PROPERTY CUDAQ_RUNTIME_LIBS ${LIBRARY_NAME})
 # and by keeping it private, others can specify the
 # backend library later on
 target_link_libraries(${LIBRARY_NAME}
-  PUBLIC cudaq-common cudaq-operator dl fmt::fmt-header-only)
+  PUBLIC cudaq-common cudaq-operator dl 
+  PRIVATE fmt::fmt-header-only)
 
 install(TARGETS ${LIBRARY_NAME} 
         EXPORT nvqir-targets 
diff --git a/unittests/CMakeLists.txt b/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
index 8dfc50c6020..55157036559 100644
--- a/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -70,10 +70,10 @@ macro (create_tests_with_backend NVQIR_BACKEND EXTRA_BACKEND_TESTER)
     nvqir-${NVQIR_BACKEND}
     nvqir
     cudaq
-    fmt::fmt-header-only
     cudaq-platform-default
     cudaq-builder
-    gtest_main)
+    gtest_main
+    PRIVATE fmt::fmt-header-only)
   set(TEST_LABELS "")
   if (${NVQIR_BACKEND} STREQUAL "qpp")
     target_compile_definitions(${TEST_EXE_NAME} PRIVATE -DCUDAQ_SIMULATION_SCALAR_FP64)