diff --git a/dev-python/grpcio/grpcio-1.51.0.ebuild b/dev-python/grpcio/grpcio-1.51.0.ebuild
index c501eb843a7c4..8795f203de5a7 100644
--- a/dev-python/grpcio/grpcio-1.51.0.ebuild
+++ b/dev-python/grpcio/grpcio-1.51.0.ebuild
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@
 
 EAPI=8
 
-PYTHON_COMPAT=( python3_{9..11} )
+DISTUTILS_EXT=1
 DISTUTILS_USE_PEP517=setuptools
+PYTHON_COMPAT=( python3_{9..11} )
 
 inherit distutils-r1 multiprocessing prefix pypi