diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index dfa42c38099..e5beb51dedf 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -234,11 +234,6 @@ if [[ "${EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS}" != *"DFIND_CUDF_CPP"* ]]; then
     EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS="${EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS} -DFIND_CUDF_CPP=ON"
 fi
 
-# Append `-DFIND_CUDF_KAFKA_CPP=ON` to EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS unless a user specified the option.
-if buildAll || hasArg cudf_kafka && [[ "${EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS}" != *"DFIND_CUDF_KAFKA_CPP"* ]]; then
-    EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS="${EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS} -DFIND_CUDF_KAFKA_CPP=ON"
-fi
-
 
 # If clean given, run it prior to any other steps
 if hasArg clean; then
@@ -262,7 +257,7 @@ fi
 ################################################################################
 # Configure, build, and install libcudf
 
-if buildAll || hasArg libcudf || hasArg cudf || hasArg cudf_kafka || hasArg cudfjar; then
+if buildAll || hasArg libcudf || hasArg cudf || hasArg cudfjar; then
     if (( ${BUILD_ALL_GPU_ARCH} == 0 )); then
         CUDF_CMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES="${CUDF_CMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES:-NATIVE}"
         if [[ "$CUDF_CMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES" == "NATIVE" ]]; then
@@ -374,7 +369,7 @@ fi
 # build cudf_kafka Python package
 if hasArg cudf_kafka; then
     cd ${REPODIR}/python/cudf_kafka
-    SKBUILD_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS="-DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=${INSTALL_PREFIX} -DCMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH=${LIBCUDF_BUILD_DIR} -DCMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES=${CUDF_CMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES} ${EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS}" \
+    SKBUILD_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS="-DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=${INSTALL_PREFIX} -DCMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH=${LIBCUDF_BUILD_DIR} ${EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS}" \
         SKBUILD_BUILD_OPTIONS="-j${PARALLEL_LEVEL:-1}" \
         python -m pip install --no-build-isolation --no-deps .
 fi
diff --git a/python/cudf_kafka/CMakeLists.txt b/python/cudf_kafka/CMakeLists.txt
index 8127ba87b40..5b3397fa64d 100644
--- a/python/cudf_kafka/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/python/cudf_kafka/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.26.4 FATAL_ERROR)
 set(cudf_kafka_version 23.12.00)
 
 include(../../fetch_rapids.cmake)
-include(rapids-cuda)
-rapids_cuda_init_architectures(cudf-kafka-python)
 
 project(
   cudf-kafka-python
@@ -27,59 +25,15 @@ project(
             # language to be enabled here. The test project that is built in scikit-build to verify
             # various linking options for the python library is hardcoded to build with C, so until
             # that is fixed we need to keep C.
-            C CXX CUDA
+            C CXX
 )
 
-option(FIND_CUDF_KAFKA_CPP
-       "Search for existing cudf_kafka C++ installations before defaulting to local files" OFF
-)
-
-option(CUDF_KAFKA_BUILD_WHEELS "Whether this build is generating a Python wheel." OFF)
-
-# If the user requested it we attempt to find cudf_kafka.
 if(FIND_CUDF_KAFKA_CPP)
   find_package(cudf_kafka ${cudf_kafka_version} REQUIRED)
 endif()
 
 if(NOT cudf_kafka_FOUND)
-  set(BUILD_TESTS OFF)
-  set(BUILD_BENCHMARKS OFF)
-  set(_exclude_from_all "")
-  if(CUDF_KAFKA_BUILD_WHEELS)
-
-    # Statically link cudart if building wheels
-    set(CUDA_STATIC_RUNTIME ON)
-    set(CUDF_KAFKA_USE_CUDF_STATIC ON)
-    set(CUDF_KAFKA_EXCLUDE_CUDF_FROM_ALL ON)
-
-    # Always build wheels against the pyarrow libarrow.
-    set(USE_LIBARROW_FROM_PYARROW ON)
-
-    # Need to set this so all the nvcomp targets are global, not only nvcomp::nvcomp
-    # https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/variable/CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_TARGETS_GLOBAL.html#variable:CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_TARGETS_GLOBAL
-    set(CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_TARGETS_GLOBAL ON)
-
-    # Don't install the cudf_kafka C++ targets into wheels
-    set(_exclude_from_all EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
-  endif()
-
-  add_subdirectory(../../cpp/libcudf_kafka cudf_kafka-cpp ${_exclude_from_all})
-
-  set(cython_lib_dir cudf_kafka)
-
-  if(CUDF_KAFKA_BUILD_WHEELS)
-    include(cmake/Modules/WheelHelpers.cmake)
-    get_target_property(_nvcomp_link_libs nvcomp::nvcomp INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES)
-    # Ensure all the shared objects we need at runtime are in the wheel
-    add_target_libs_to_wheel(
-      LIB_DIR ${cython_lib_dir} TARGETS arrow_shared nvcomp::nvcomp ${_nvcomp_link_libs}
-    )
-  endif()
-
-  # Since there are multiple subpackages of cudf_kafka._lib that require access to libcudf_kafka, we
-  # place the library in the cudf_kafka directory as a single source of truth and modify the other
-  # rpaths appropriately.
-  install(TARGETS cudf_kafka DESTINATION ${cython_lib_dir})
+  message(FATAL_ERROR "cudf_kafka package not found. cudf_kafka C++ is required to build this Python package.")
 endif()
 
 include(rapids-cython)
diff --git a/python/cudf_kafka/cudf_kafka/cmake/Modules/WheelHelpers.cmake b/python/cudf_kafka/cudf_kafka/cmake/Modules/WheelHelpers.cmake
deleted file mode 100644
index 41d720c527a..00000000000
--- a/python/cudf_kafka/cudf_kafka/cmake/Modules/WheelHelpers.cmake
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,71 +0,0 @@
-# =============================================================================
-# Copyright (c) 2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except
-# in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License
-# is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express
-# or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
-# the License.
-# =============================================================================
-include_guard(GLOBAL)
-
-# Making libraries available inside wheels by installing the associated targets.
-function(add_target_libs_to_wheel)
-  list(APPEND CMAKE_MESSAGE_CONTEXT "add_target_libs_to_wheel")
-
-  set(options "")
-  set(one_value "LIB_DIR")
-  set(multi_value "TARGETS")
-  cmake_parse_arguments(_ "${options}" "${one_value}" "${multi_value}" ${ARGN})
-
-  message(VERBOSE "Installing targets '${__TARGETS}' into lib_dir '${__LIB_DIR}'")
-
-  foreach(target IN LISTS __TARGETS)
-
-    if(NOT TARGET ${target})
-      message(VERBOSE "No target named ${target}")
-      continue()
-    endif()
-
-    get_target_property(alias_target ${target} ALIASED_TARGET)
-    if(alias_target)
-      set(target ${alias_target})
-    endif()
-
-    get_target_property(is_imported ${target} IMPORTED)
-    if(NOT is_imported)
-      # If the target isn't imported, install it into the the wheel
-      install(TARGETS ${target} DESTINATION ${__LIB_DIR})
-      message(VERBOSE "install(TARGETS ${target} DESTINATION ${__LIB_DIR})")
-    else()
-      # If the target is imported, make sure it's global
-      get_target_property(already_global ${target} IMPORTED_GLOBAL)
-      if(NOT already_global)
-        set_target_properties(${target} PROPERTIES IMPORTED_GLOBAL TRUE)
-      endif()
-
-      # Find the imported target's library so we can copy it into the wheel
-      set(lib_loc)
-      foreach(prop IN ITEMS IMPORTED_LOCATION IMPORTED_LOCATION_RELEASE IMPORTED_LOCATION_DEBUG)
-        get_target_property(lib_loc ${target} ${prop})
-        if(lib_loc)
-          message(VERBOSE "Found ${prop} for ${target}: ${lib_loc}")
-          break()
-        endif()
-        message(VERBOSE "${target} has no value for property ${prop}")
-      endforeach()
-
-      if(NOT lib_loc)
-        message(FATAL_ERROR "Found no libs to install for target ${target}")
-      endif()
-
-      # Copy the imported library into the wheel
-      install(FILES ${lib_loc} DESTINATION ${__LIB_DIR})
-      message(VERBOSE "install(FILES ${lib_loc} DESTINATION ${__LIB_DIR})")
-    endif()
-  endforeach()
-endfunction()