diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/suitesparse/4.2.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/suitesparse/4.2.nix
index 070e2b1be1f9..7e71eafef697 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/suitesparse/4.2.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/math/suitesparse/4.2.nix
@@ -33,8 +33,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     "LAPACK="
   ];
 
-  NIX_CFLAGS = "-fPIC";
-
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     homepage = http://faculty.cse.tamu.edu/davis/suitesparse.html;
     description = "A suite of sparse matrix algorithms";