diff --git a/3rdparty/kleidicv/CMakeLists.txt b/3rdparty/kleidicv/CMakeLists.txt
index 060357662c..a236483c27 100644
--- a/3rdparty/kleidicv/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/3rdparty/kleidicv/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,24 +1,7 @@
 project(kleidicv_hal)
 
-set(KLEIDICV_SOURCE_PATH "" CACHE PATH "Directory containing KleidiCV sources")
-ocv_update(KLEIDICV_SRC_COMMIT "0.2.0")
-ocv_update(KLEIDICV_SRC_HASH "dabe522e8f55ac342d07a787391dab80")
-
-if(KLEIDICV_SOURCE_PATH)
-  set(THE_ROOT "${KLEIDICV_SOURCE_PATH}")
-else()
-  ocv_download(FILENAME "kleidicv-${KLEIDICV_SRC_COMMIT}.tar.gz"
-                HASH ${KLEIDICV_SRC_HASH}
-                URL
-                  "${OPENCV_KLEIDICV_URL}"
-                  "$ENV{OPENCV_KLEIDICV_URL}"
-                  "https://gitlab.arm.com/kleidi/kleidicv/-/archive/${KLEIDICV_SRC_COMMIT}/"
-                DESTINATION_DIR "${OpenCV_BINARY_DIR}/3rdparty/kleidicv/"
-                ID KLEIDICV
-                STATUS res
-                UNPACK RELATIVE_URL)
-  set(THE_ROOT "${OpenCV_BINARY_DIR}/3rdparty/kleidicv/kleidicv-${KLEIDICV_SRC_COMMIT}")
+if(HAVE_KLEIDICV)
+  option(KLEIDICV_ENABLE_SME2 "" OFF) # not compatible with some CLang versions in NDK
+  include("${KLEIDICV_SOURCE_PATH}/adapters/opencv/CMakeLists.txt")
 endif()
 
-option(KLEIDICV_ENABLE_SME2 "" OFF) # not compatible with some CLang versions in NDK
-include("${THE_ROOT}/adapters/opencv/CMakeLists.txt")
diff --git a/3rdparty/kleidicv/kleidicv.cmake b/3rdparty/kleidicv/kleidicv.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..57d3843ef0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/3rdparty/kleidicv/kleidicv.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+function(download_kleidicv root_var)
+  set(${root_var} "" PARENT_SCOPE)
+
+  ocv_update(KLEIDICV_SRC_COMMIT "0.2.0")
+  ocv_update(KLEIDICV_SRC_HASH "dabe522e8f55ac342d07a787391dab80")
+
+  set(THE_ROOT "${OpenCV_BINARY_DIR}/3rdparty/kleidicv")
+  ocv_download(FILENAME "kleidicv-${KLEIDICV_SRC_COMMIT}.tar.gz"
+                HASH ${KLEIDICV_SRC_HASH}
+                URL
+                  "${OPENCV_KLEIDICV_URL}"
+                  "$ENV{OPENCV_KLEIDICV_URL}"
+                  "https://gitlab.arm.com/kleidi/kleidicv/-/archive/${KLEIDICV_SRC_COMMIT}/"
+                DESTINATION_DIR ${THE_ROOT}
+                ID KLEIDICV
+                STATUS res
+                UNPACK RELATIVE_URL)
+  if(res)
+    set(${root_var} "${OpenCV_BINARY_DIR}/3rdparty/kleidicv/kleidicv-${KLEIDICV_SRC_COMMIT}" PARENT_SCOPE)
+  endif()
+endfunction()
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c8e4ef09c3..3520e92e06 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -935,7 +935,7 @@ if(HAVE_OPENVX)
   endif()
 endif()
 
-if(WITH_KLEIDICV)
+if(HAVE_KLEIDICV)
   ocv_debug_message(STATUS "Enable KleidiCV acceleration")
   if(NOT ";${OpenCV_HAL};" MATCHES ";kleidicv;")
     set(OpenCV_HAL "kleidicv;${OpenCV_HAL}")
diff --git a/cmake/OpenCVFindLibsPerf.cmake b/cmake/OpenCVFindLibsPerf.cmake
index 5f72a67d89..493f005d7a 100644
--- a/cmake/OpenCVFindLibsPerf.cmake
+++ b/cmake/OpenCVFindLibsPerf.cmake
@@ -161,3 +161,19 @@ if(WITH_CLP)
     endif()
   endif()
 endif(WITH_CLP)
+
+# --- ARM KleidiCV
+if(WITH_KLEIDICV)
+  if(KLEIDICV_SOURCE_PATH AND EXISTS "${KLEIDICV_SOURCE_PATH}/adapters/opencv/CMakeLists.txt")
+    set(HAVE_KLEIDICV ON)
+  endif()
+  if(NOT HAVE_KLEIDICV)
+    include("${OpenCV_SOURCE_DIR}/3rdparty/kleidicv/kleidicv.cmake")
+    download_kleidicv(KLEIDICV_SOURCE_PATH)
+    if(KLEIDICV_SOURCE_PATH)
+      set(HAVE_KLEIDICV ON)
+    endif()
+  else()
+    set(HAVE_KLEIDICV OFF)
+  endif()
+endif(WITH_KLEIDICV)