diff --git a/src/compiler/tsbuildPublic.ts b/src/compiler/tsbuildPublic.ts
index 2d02637c7ec49..a6f71ec4d4b18 100644
--- a/src/compiler/tsbuildPublic.ts
+++ b/src/compiler/tsbuildPublic.ts
@@ -871,12 +871,12 @@ namespace ts {
                 getConfigFileParsingDiagnostics(config),
                 config.projectReferences
             );
-            state.lastCachedPackageJsonLookups.set(projectPath, state.moduleResolutionCache && map(
-                state.moduleResolutionCache.getPackageJsonInfoCache().entries(),
-                ([path, data]) => ([state.host.realpath && data ? toPath(state, state.host.realpath(path)) : path, data] as const)
-            ));
-
             if (state.watch) {
+                state.lastCachedPackageJsonLookups.set(projectPath, state.moduleResolutionCache && map(
+                    state.moduleResolutionCache.getPackageJsonInfoCache().entries(),
+                    ([path, data]) => ([state.host.realpath && data ? toPath(state, state.host.realpath(path)) : path, data] as const)
+                ));
+
                 state.builderPrograms.set(projectPath, program);
             }
             step++;