diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7eaaf76ea1f..413e533aa4c 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -16,18 +16,25 @@
 from typing import Dict, List, Tuple
 
 from setuptools import find_packages, setup
+from utils.artifacts import get_release_and_version
 
 
-# default variables to be overwritten by the version.py file
-is_release = None
-is_dev = None
-version = "unknown"
-version_major_minor = version
+package_path = os.path.join(
+    os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)), "src", "sparseml"
+)
+(
+    is_release,
+    is_dev,
+    version,
+    version_major,
+    version_minor,
+    version_bug,
+) = get_release_and_version(package_path)
 
 # load and overwrite version and release info from sparseml package
 exec(open(os.path.join("src", "sparseml", "version.py")).read())
 print(f"loaded version {version} from src/sparseml/version.py")
-version_nm_deps = f"{version_major_minor}.0"
+version_nm_deps = f"{version_major}.{version_minor}.0"
 
 if is_release:
     _PACKAGE_NAME = "sparseml"
diff --git a/src/sparseml/version.py b/src/sparseml/version.py
index ffe77da583a..1279a498a4b 100644
--- a/src/sparseml/version.py
+++ b/src/sparseml/version.py
@@ -16,16 +16,20 @@
 Functionality for storing and setting the version info for SparseML
 """
 
-from datetime import date
-
-
 version_base = "1.8.0"
 is_release = False  # change to True to set the generated version as a release version
 is_dev = False
 dev_number = None
 
 
-def _generate_version():
+def _generate_version(
+    is_release: bool,
+    is_dev: bool,
+    version_base: str,
+    dev_number: str,
+):
+    from datetime import date
+
     if is_release:
         return version_base
     elif is_dev:
@@ -45,7 +49,7 @@ def _generate_version():
     "version_build",
     "version_major_minor",
 ]
-__version__ = _generate_version()
+__version__ = _generate_version(is_release, is_dev, version_base, dev_number)
 
 version = __version__
 version_major, version_minor, version_bug, version_build = version.split(".") + (
diff --git a/utils/artifacts.py b/utils/artifacts.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a93bda61122
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/artifacts.py
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2021 - present / Neuralmagic, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
+#
+# 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.
+
+
+import os
+from typing import Tuple
+
+
+def get_release_and_version(package_path: str) -> Tuple[bool, bool, str, str, str, str]:
+    """
+    Load version and release info from deepsparse package
+    """
+    # deepsparse/src/deepsparse/version.py always exists, default source of truth
+    version_path = os.path.join(package_path, "version.py")
+
+    # exec() cannot set local variables so need to manually
+    locals_dict = {}
+    exec(open(version_path).read(), globals(), locals_dict)
+    is_release = locals_dict.get("is_release", False)
+    is_dev = locals_dict.get("is_dev", False)
+    version = locals_dict.get("version", "unknown")
+    version_major = locals_dict.get("version_major", "unknown")
+    version_minor = locals_dict.get("version_minor", "unknown")
+    version_bug = locals_dict.get("version_bug", "unknown")
+
+    print(f"Loaded version {version} from {version_path}")
+
+    return (
+        is_release,
+        is_dev,
+        version,
+        version_major,
+        version_minor,
+        version_bug,
+    )