diff --git a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/llvm.rs b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/llvm.rs
index 08e24ecc3401a..d06735aa4854c 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/llvm.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/llvm.rs
@@ -241,7 +241,13 @@ pub(crate) fn is_ci_llvm_available(config: &Config, asserts: bool) -> bool {
 
 /// Returns true if we're running in CI with modified LLVM (and thus can't download it)
 pub(crate) fn is_ci_llvm_modified(config: &Config) -> bool {
-    CiEnv::is_ci() && config.rust_info.is_managed_git_subrepository() && {
+    // If the LLVM submodule is unavailable (which is the case when `llvm.download-ci-llvm` is set to true),
+    // LLVM cannot be modified which means it is unnecessary to run the git logic below.
+    if config.in_tree_llvm_info.is_managed_git_subrepository() {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    CiEnv::is_ci() && {
         // We assume we have access to git, so it's okay to unconditionally pass
         // `true` here.
         let llvm_sha = detect_llvm_sha(config, true);
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/src/lib.rs b/src/bootstrap/src/lib.rs
index 6467f4e35910d..9a48b7d36d9a4 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/src/lib.rs
@@ -312,8 +312,6 @@ impl Build {
         let miri_info = config.miri_info.clone();
         let rustfmt_info = config.rustfmt_info.clone();
         let enzyme_info = config.enzyme_info.clone();
-
-        // we always try to use git for LLVM builds
         let in_tree_llvm_info = config.in_tree_llvm_info.clone();
         let in_tree_gcc_info = config.in_tree_gcc_info.clone();