diff --git a/dev-libs/ncnn/ncnn-20240820.ebuild b/dev-libs/ncnn/ncnn-20240820.ebuild
index 3ca6898ed9c51..432e9ebb568fd 100644
--- a/dev-libs/ncnn/ncnn-20240820.ebuild
+++ b/dev-libs/ncnn/ncnn-20240820.ebuild
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 1999-2024 Gentoo Authors
+# Copyright 1999-2025 Gentoo Authors
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
 EAPI=8
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ DEPEND="
 	${RDEPEND}
 	vulkan? ( dev-util/vulkan-headers )
 "
+BDEPEND="
+	tools? ( dev-libs/protobuf[protoc(+)] )
+"
 
 DOCS=( README.md docs/. )