diff --git a/cmake/features.cmake b/cmake/features.cmake
index 91d30c4a6ac4fc..46168884643104 100644
--- a/cmake/features.cmake
+++ b/cmake/features.cmake
@@ -50,3 +50,7 @@ ie_option (ENABLE_PROFILING_ITT "Build with ITT tracing. Optionally configure pr
 ie_option (ENABLE_DOCS "build docs using Doxygen" OFF)
 
 ie_dependent_option (ENABLE_FASTER_BUILD "Enable build features (PCH, UNITY) to speed up build time" OFF "CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL 3.16" OFF)
+
+# Type of build, we add this as an explicit option to default it to ON
+# FIXME: Ah this moment setting this to OFF will only build ngraph a static library
+ie_option (BUILD_SHARED_LIBS, "Build as a shared library" ON)
diff --git a/ngraph/CMakeLists.txt b/ngraph/CMakeLists.txt
index 928143898c00ad..29a6f47810eea9 100644
--- a/ngraph/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ngraph/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -124,7 +124,6 @@ option(NGRAPH_ADDRESS_SANITIZER_ENABLE "Compiles and links with Address Sanitize
 option(NGRAPH_THREAD_SANITIZER_ENABLE "Compiles and links with Thread Sanitizer" FALSE)
 option(NGRAPH_UB_SANITIZER_ENABLE "Compiles and links with Undefined Behavior Sanitizer" FALSE)
 option(NGRAPH_USE_PROTOBUF_LITE "Compiles and links with protobuf-lite" FALSE)
-option(NGRAPH_STATIC_LIBRARY "Compiles ngraph as a static library" FALSE)
 
 if (NGRAPH_ONNX_IMPORT_ENABLE)
     option(NGRAPH_USE_SYSTEM_PROTOBUF "Use system provided Protobuf shared object" FALSE)
@@ -162,7 +161,6 @@ NORMALIZE_BOOL(NGRAPH_ADDRESS_SANITIZER_ENABLE)
 NORMALIZE_BOOL(NGRAPH_THREAD_SANITIZER_ENABLE)
 NORMALIZE_BOOL(NGRAPH_UB_SANITIZER_ENABLE)
 NORMALIZE_BOOL(NGRAPH_USE_PROTOBUF_LITE)
-NORMALIZE_BOOL(NGRAPH_STATIC_LIBRARY)
 
 message(STATUS "NGRAPH_ADDRESS_SANITIZER_ENABLE:      ${NGRAPH_ADDRESS_SANITIZER_ENABLE}")
 message(STATUS "NGRAPH_CODE_COVERAGE_ENABLE:          ${NGRAPH_CODE_COVERAGE_ENABLE}")
@@ -181,7 +179,6 @@ message(STATUS "NGRAPH_UB_SANITIZER_ENABLE:           ${NGRAPH_UB_SANITIZER_ENAB
 message(STATUS "NGRAPH_USE_PROTOBUF_LITE:             ${NGRAPH_USE_PROTOBUF_LITE}")
 message(STATUS "NGRAPH_UNIT_TEST_ENABLE:              ${NGRAPH_UNIT_TEST_ENABLE}")
 message(STATUS "NGRAPH_WARNINGS_AS_ERRORS:            ${NGRAPH_WARNINGS_AS_ERRORS}")
-message(STATUS "NGRAPH_STATIC_LIBRARY:                ${NGRAPH_STATIC_LIBRARY}")
 
 set(NGRAPH_CXX_STANDARD 11)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD ${NGRAPH_CXX_STANDARD})
@@ -483,7 +480,7 @@ if (NGRAPH_EXPORT_TARGETS_ENABLE)
     set(NGRAPH_TARGETS_FILE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/ngraphTargets.cmake")
     export(TARGETS ngraph NAMESPACE ngraph:: FILE "${NGRAPH_TARGETS_FILE}")
 
-    if(NOT NGRAPH_STATIC_LIBRARY)
+    if(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
         install(EXPORT ngraphTargets
             FILE ngraphTargets.cmake
             NAMESPACE ngraph::
diff --git a/ngraph/core/CMakeLists.txt b/ngraph/core/CMakeLists.txt
index d7fcbd25e4256e..f9297700bfc042 100644
--- a/ngraph/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ngraph/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -33,13 +33,9 @@ source_group("include" FILES ${PUBLIC_HEADERS})
 
 configure_file(include/ngraph/version.in.hpp include/ngraph/version.hpp)
 
-if (NGRAPH_STATIC_LIBRARY)
-    # Create static library
-    add_library(ngraph STATIC ${LIBRARY_SRC} ${PUBLIC_HEADERS})
-else()
-    # Create shared library
-    add_library(ngraph SHARED ${LIBRARY_SRC} ${PUBLIC_HEADERS})
-endif()
+# Create static or shared library depending on BUILD_SHARED_LIBS
+add_library(ngraph ${LIBRARY_SRC} ${PUBLIC_HEADERS})
+
 
 if(COMMAND ie_faster_build)
     ie_faster_build(ngraph
@@ -75,7 +71,7 @@ if(NGRAPH_LIB_VERSIONING_ENABLE)
         SOVERSION ${NGRAPH_API_VERSION})
 endif()
 target_compile_definitions(ngraph PUBLIC NGRAPH_VERSION="${NGRAPH_VERSION}")
-if(NGRAPH_STATIC_LIBRARY)
+if(NOT BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
     target_compile_definitions(ngraph PUBLIC NGRAPH_STATIC_LIBRARY)
 endif()