diff --git a/merlin/core/compat.py b/merlin/core/compat.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4c70179e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/merlin/core/compat.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2022, 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.
+#
+HAS_GPU = False
+try:
+    from numba import cuda
+
+    try:
+        HAS_GPU = len(cuda.gpus.lst) > 0
+    except cuda.cudadrv.error.CudaSupportError:
+        pass
+except ImportError:
+    cuda = None
diff --git a/merlin/core/dispatch.py b/merlin/core/dispatch.py
index fb1db2446..ad55df1f3 100644
--- a/merlin/core/dispatch.py
+++ b/merlin/core/dispatch.py
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 import pyarrow as pa
 import pyarrow.parquet as pq
 
+from merlin.core.compat import HAS_GPU
+
 try:
     import cudf
     import cupy as cp
@@ -40,9 +42,7 @@
         from cudf.utils.dtypes import is_list_dtype as cudf_is_list_dtype
         from cudf.utils.dtypes import is_string_dtype as cudf_is_string_dtype
 
-    HAS_GPU = True
 except ImportError:
-    HAS_GPU = False
     cp = None
     cudf = None
     rmm = None
diff --git a/merlin/core/utils.py b/merlin/core/utils.py
index d83ddfbca..5cdf53e92 100644
--- a/merlin/core/utils.py
+++ b/merlin/core/utils.py
@@ -28,12 +28,10 @@
 from dask.distributed import Client, get_client
 from tqdm import tqdm
 
+from merlin.core.compat import HAS_GPU, cuda
+
 _merlin_dask_client = ContextVar("_merlin_dask_client", default="auto")
 
-try:
-    from numba import cuda
-except ImportError:
-    cuda = None
 
 try:
     import psutil
@@ -254,7 +252,7 @@ class only supports the automatic generation of
     def __init__(self, client=None, cluster_type=None, force_new=False, **cluster_options):
         self._initial_client = global_dask_client()  # Initial state
         self._client = client or "auto"  # Cannot be `None`
-        self.cluster_type = cluster_type or ("cpu" if cuda is None else "cuda")
+        self.cluster_type = cluster_type or ("cuda" if HAS_GPU else "cpu")
         self.cluster_options = cluster_options
         # We can only shut down the cluster in `shutdown`/`__exit__`
         # if we are generating it internally