diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 4dae29808..683f40e1f 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ cdata = configuration_data()
 cdata.set_quoted('PACKAGE', 'pulseaudio')
 cdata.set_quoted('PACKAGE_NAME', 'pulseaudio')
 cdata.set_quoted('PACKAGE_VERSION', pa_version_str)
-cdata.set_quoted('CANONICAL_HOST', host_machine.cpu())
+cdata.set_quoted('CANONICAL_HOST', target_machine.cpu_family())
 cdata.set('PA_MAJOR', pa_version_major)
 cdata.set('PA_MINOR', pa_version_minor)
 cdata.set('PA_API_VERSION', pa_api_version)