diff --git a/compiler/ir/serialization.common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/backend/common/serialization/KotlinIrLinker.kt b/compiler/ir/serialization.common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/backend/common/serialization/KotlinIrLinker.kt
index d2a691d6186..13dfdba2771 100644
--- a/compiler/ir/serialization.common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/backend/common/serialization/KotlinIrLinker.kt
+++ b/compiler/ir/serialization.common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/backend/common/serialization/KotlinIrLinker.kt
@@ -129,7 +129,9 @@ abstract class KotlinIrLinker(
 
         private val moduleDeserializationState = DeserializationState.ModuleDeserializationState(this)
         private val moduleReversedFileIndex = mutableMapOf<UniqId, IrDeserializerForFile>()
-        private val moduleDependencies = mutableListOf<IrModuleDeserializer>()
+        private val moduleDependencies by lazy {
+            moduleDescriptor.allDependencyModules.filter { it != moduleDescriptor }.map { deserializersForModules[it]!! }
+        }
 
         // This is a heavy initializer
         val module = deserializeIrModuleHeader()
@@ -460,7 +462,6 @@ abstract class KotlinIrLinker(
                 files.add(deserializeIrFile(ProtoFile.parseFrom(readFile(moduleDescriptor, i), newInstance()), i))
             }
 
-            moduleDescriptor.allDependencyModules.filter { it != moduleDescriptor }.mapTo(moduleDependencies) { deserializersForModules[it]!! }
 
             return IrModuleFragmentImpl(moduleDescriptor, builtIns, files)
         }